Death toll rises to 153 after stampede at Halloween celebration in Seoul

• Deadly stampede during a Halloween celebration in Seoul.
• At least 153 have died.
• The figure is expected to rise.

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES END IN TRAGEDY. The number of people killed has increased to 153 — most of them young — after a stampede on Saturday during a Halloween celebration in Seoul, South Korea. This tragic number is expected to grow.

About 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon, in the country’s capital, to enjoy the largest Halloween celebration organized in South Korea since the pandemic and strict health controls began. Sadly, the fun ended in horror.

Death toll rises to 153 after stampede at Seoul Halloween celebration

Local authorities indicated that a crowd celebrating Halloween in Seoul became trapped in a narrow alley and that many people were crushed in the stampede making the celebration one of the worst tragedies in the Asian country.

Initially, they confirmed 50 fatalities, but this number has been increasing. So far, local media report t153 people have died and that another 150 more were injured, some of them are in serious condition, according to El País.

19 foreigners were among the dead

The incident occurred on Saturday around 10:22 p.m. local time around the Hamilton hotel, located in front of a subway station in the popular Itaewon neighborhood, according to the South Korean Interior Ministry’s Central Office for Disasters and Security.

Choi Seong-beom, chief of the Yongsan Fire Department in Seoul, said most of the dead and injured were in their teens and 20s. He also said that 19 foreigners are among the dead but did not immediately reveal their nationalities.

Desperate to save lives

Emergency workers arrived on the scene and desperately tried CPR on several of those lying in the streets. The death toll is already over 150 and officials have warned it could get worse as 19 of the injured are in serious condition, noted The Associated Press.

“I still can’t believe what has happened. It was like hell,” said Kim Mi Sung, an official with a non-profit organization that promotes tourism in the area. The woman also tried to revive ten unconscious people, mostly women in Halloween costumes, but nine of them were later certified to have died at the scene.

Chilling videos

Witnesses to the wave of people said that what they experienced was «infernal» chaos and that people fell on top of each other «like dominoes.» After the deadly stampede, many could see that some were bleeding from the nose or mouth and others needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Later, the chilling images of the dozens of corpses lying in the streets began to circulate on social media, as well as some videos of those who lived through moments of terror trying to survive among the desperate crowd. SEE VIDEO HERE. (WARNING: SENSITIVE IMAGES)