At least 153 people died and another 82 were injured after being crushed and trampled at a Halloween street party in Seoul on Saturday night. Most of the dead were young people who suffocated to death.
Speaking on Sunday at the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis spoke about the tragedy in the South Korean capital, in the nightclub district of Itaewon.
“Let us pray to the Risen Lord for all those, mostly young people, who died last night in Seoul from the tragic consequences of a sudden crowd stampede,” Francis said.
Video posted to social media showed people grasping at walls, trying to lift themselves out of the crush. When some people fell, others walked over them. The disaster was not apparent at first. Loud music continued playing as bodies lay on the road. The head of the local fire department said the victims had been attending a Halloween gathering.
It is unclear why the crush occurred, but eyewitnesses said there was little or no crowd control. Revellers kept arriving and pushing into streets that were already full.
Kim Mi Sung, an official at a nonprofit organisation that promotes tourism in Itaewon, said she performed CPR on 10 people who were unconscious, mostly women wearing witch outfits and other Halloween costumes. Nine of them were declared dead on the spot. Nearly two-thirds of those killed — 97 — were women. More than 80 per cent of the dead were in their 20s and 30s, and at least four were teenagers.
In a written statement, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea said South Koreans must “break the cycle of injustice and irresponsibility that has become a common practice in this society … Authorities must thoroughly examine the cause and process of this tragedy, and ensure that irresponsibility and oblivion are not repeated”. The bishops said there must be “no further sacrifices” from people, especially young people. “Human life and dignity are the most precious values, and nothing in our society can take precedence over it,” they said.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol called it a “tragedy that should not have happened.” He said South Koreans will mark a week of mourning.
The death toll is the worst in South Korea since the sinking of an overloaded ferry eight years ago. In that disaster, 304 people died, many of them schoolchildren. Maritime transport regulations were subsequently tightened.
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