SEOUL: At least 149 people have been killed with 76 others injured in a deadly stampede in Seoul’s Itaewon district, as huge crowds of partygoers stampeded at late-night Halloween celebrations, Yonhap News Agency quoted fire authorities Sunday.
The accident took place Saturday night in a narrow downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in the famous nightlife district after a throng of partygoers flooded into it, according to witnesses.
Tens of thousands of people were visiting the area for Halloween parties.
A total of 149 people, including two foreigners, had been confirmed dead as of early Sunday morning with 76 others injured, 57 of them seriously, fire authorities said, adding the death toll could rise further.
Choi Seong Beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, which includes Itaewon, told reporters many casualties were incurred as a crowd of people fell over during Halloween parties.
Victims in their 20s accounted for the age group most affected by the accident, the authorities also said.
Fire authorities initially received dozens of reports from people in the Itaewon area about patients with breathing difficulties.
Rescuers sent to the scene had administered CPR on dozens of victims on a nearby road.
“As people in the front fell over, those in the back were crushed,” a witness in his 20s told Yonhap News Agency.
The exact cause of the accident is yet to be known. – BERNAMA
