South Korean officials admitted responsibility and apologized on Tuesday for failures in preventing and responding to a Halloween crowd surge that killed more than 150 people and left citizens shocked and angry.
people falling on one another, suffering severe breathing difficulties and falling unconscious. They said rescuers and ambulances failed to reach the crammed alleys in time because the entire Itaewon area was packed with slow-moving vehicles and partygoers clad in Halloween costumes.
The crowd surge is South Korea’s deadliest disaster since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people andand regulatory failures. Saturday’s surge has raised public questions about what South Korea has done since then to prevent human-made disasters. Police said they had sent 137 officers to maintain order during the Halloween festivities on Saturday, much more than the 34-90 officers mobilized in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic. But some observers questioned whether the 137 officers were enough to handle the estimated 100,00 people gathered Saturday in Itaewon.
The death toll could rise as officials said that 29 of the injured were in serious condition. The dead included 26 foreign nationals from Iran, China, Russia, the United States, Japan and elsewhere.
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