Crowds Reportedly Stay Back After Seoul Stampede, Bars Still Full At 2am

Revellers Stay In Itaewon, Seoul Into Early Hours After Stampede

On 29 Oct, a stampede due to overcrowding at Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea, left at least 151 dead.

But Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh reported that some people were still partying it up at bars in Itaewon following the disaster.

Even though police called on people in Itaewon to go home at around 2am, most bars were still full, and some even shouted at the police.

Police had to ask people to go home at 2am after Itaewon stampede

Despite the harrowing scenes in the nightlife district just hours earlier, The Hankyoreh reported that revellers were still out on the streets and drinking in bars at 2am.

This was even though the fire department had ordered that the Halloween festival be suspended at 11.19pm.

People were reportedly taking pictures in alleys near the accident site and filling up spaces in bars till the early hours of the morning.

“It was difficult to find an empty seat in the bar,” according to the report.

The crowds made it difficult for an ambulance to reach the accident site, where bodies were laid out in rows and covered in white sheets.

Police officers using a loudspeaker and whistle could be heard telling people to go home.

“Please go home. That’s what helps us. Please disband,” the police said.

But their words seemingly went unheeded as some people even shouted back at them, complaining about not having a place to drink.

People fell & toppled one another “like dominoes”

According to The Hankyoreh, people were toppling one another “like dominoes” at around 10.30pm.

One man, whose legs became numb, said he kept being pushed in the alley until he fell on the road and was only rescued an hour and a half later at around 12am.

Witnesses saw five or six people pushing others before others started to fall.

There were reportedly around 100,000 people gathered in narrow streets and alleys, leading to over 150 people suffering cardiac arrest in the stampede.

Most of the dead and injured are in their 20s.

World leaders, including UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, sent their condolences following the disaster.

This is the second crushing incident this month after a stampede at an Indonesia football stadium on 1 Oct left at least 129 dead.

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Featured image adapted from The Hankyoreh and AFP.