At least 151 killed in Seoul Halloween crowd surge

At least 151 people were killed and 82 others were injured in a crowd surge Saturday night during Halloween festivities in a popular nightlife district, officials said, one of the biggest disasters in the country, NBC News reported.

Most of the victims were people in their late teens and 20s, said Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department. Of the injured, 19 are in critical condition while 63 have less severe injuries, Choi indicated in an update Sunday morning.

The crowd had gathered in the narrow alley in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood to celebrate Halloween, officials have said. The incident was first reported around 10:15 p.m. Saturday, local time.

Early Sunday, Choi said the victims included 19 foreigners from China, Iran, Norway and Uzbekistan. It was not immediately clear how many had died. An initial update reported two foreigners were dead and 15 were injured.

In a televised address Sunday morning, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of the national mourning period, a spokesperson from his office in a text briefing.

Though Choi initially described the tragedy as a stampede, the video appears to depict a crowd surge, a wave of people moving forward through an overpacked crowd to the same destination.

The Itaewon Fire Station official said in an earlier televised briefing that 21 people were confirmed to have suffered cardiac arrest in the surge, and Choi said bodies were being sent to hospitals or a gym, where bereaved family members could identify them.

An estimated 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon for the country’s biggest outdoor Halloween festivities since the pandemic began. The South Korean government eased Covid-19 restrictions in recent months.

It was the nation's biggest disaster since 304 people, mostly high school students, died in a ferry sinking in April 2014.