More Videos from Seoul Halloween Emerge; People Continue Dancing, Singing While Injured Receive CPR

Seoul’s first Halloween in three years turned deadly in Itaewon district as nearly 150 people lost their lives in a stampede after crowds thronged a small alley to party. More videos shot during the horrific incident, that are now emerging on social media, showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them to free.

Disclaimer: The below embedded videos can be disturbing to watch. Reader discretion advised.

A footage showed people lying on the road unconscious as the rescue/fire staff pressed on their chests to give CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in an attempt to revive them. Many were said to have suffered cardiac arrest.

[Breaking] Nightmare in #Itaewon. Current status is that over 50 people have collapsed and possible multiple fatalities due to overcrowding during the Halloween festivities. Stay tuned for more info. pic.twitter.com/NhvVqnHlkl

— allkpop (@allkpop) October 29, 2022

Witnesses described chaotic scenes moments before the stampede, with the police on hand in anticipation of the Halloween event at times having trouble maintaining control of the crowds.

Fire officials and witnesses told Reuters that people continued to pour into the narrow alley that was already packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the single narrow alley.

One video showed a crowd continuing to dance and sing even as those fallen were being administered CPR.

#Itaewon, #Seoul, S.Korea, while people get squashed and stomped, many critical in need of #CPR, rowdy crowd dancing & singing Sex on the Beach, blocking ambulances and the staff#SouthKorea #ITAEWONHALLOWEEN #Itaewon #Halloween pic.twitter.com/Nf269RGiuE

— Oʂɯαʅԃσ Rσყҽƚƚ ⎊ (@oswaldosrm) October 30, 2022

In another video clip, a man can be seen trying to escape the Halloween party as hundreds of people were cramped in an alley.

Pushing and stressing hysterically, a man tries to escape..during the celebrations at the Halloween party..in South Korea..#SouthKorea #Halloween #Seoul #Itaewon #이태원 #이태원사고 #압사사고. pic.twitter.com/qqmgvLOXVf

— Siraj Noorani (@sirajnoorani) October 29, 2022

One student from France, who asked not to be identified because of the trauma of the event, said he became lodged in a crush of people for about an hour and a half. “I wanted to go to a safe place but it wasn’t possible,” he told Reuters. “I was just pushed by everyone and I just couldn’t do anything.”

Authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.

President Yoon Suk-yeol presided over an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster.

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