Celebrants rushed down the narrow street to see some celebrity.
At least 120 people died and another 100 were injured as a result of a stampede that formed on a narrow street during the Halloween celebration in Seoul, Bloomberg reports with reference to South Korean officials.
Choi Sung-beom, chief of Seoul's Yongsan Fire Department, said the death toll could rise and that an unspecified number of injured were in critical condition after a stampede in the Ithaewon entertainment district on Saturday night.
He said 74 people were killed. were sent to hospitals, and the bodies of the remaining 46 people left outside were taken to a nearby gym so workers could identify them.
Officials say the people were strangled to death after a large crowd began pushing forward in a narrow alley outside the Hamilton Hotel, Seoul's main party venue.
More than 800 rescuers and police officers from across the country, including all personnel based in Seoul, were dispatched to the streets to help victims.
The National Fire Agency said separately in a statement that officials were still trying to determine the exact number of emergency patients.
Television footage and photographs showed ambulances lining the streets amid a heavy police presence, and ambulance workers carrying the injured on stretchers. Emergency workers and bystanders were also seen administering CPR to people lying in the streets.
In one area, paramedics checked on 12 or more people who lay motionless under blue blankets.
< p>Police, who restricted traffic in surrounding areas to speed up the transport of the injured to hospitals across the city, also confirmed that dozens of people were being given CPR on the streets of Itaewon.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued emergency text messages urging people in the area to return home quickly.
Some local media earlier reported that the stampede occurred after a large number of people headed to a bar in the Ithaewon district after hearing that some celebrity had been there.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol issued a statement calling on officials to ensure prompt treatment of the injured and to check the safety of the venues for the festivities. He also instructed the Ministry of Health to quickly deploy medical aid teams during natural disasters and provide beds in nearby hospitals to treat victims.
According to local media, about 100,000 people came to the streets of Ithaewon for Halloween celebrations. , which became the largest since the beginning of the pandemic after the easing of restrictions on COVID-19 in recent months.
Related video
Recall that on October 2, 174 people died at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malanga after the match football championship of Indonesia.
