South Korea stampede: Know why Halloween party in Seoul turned deadly, reason behind chaos

The deadly stampede that broke out in South Korea took the entire world by storm due to the excessive number of deaths and the heartbreaking visuals emerging from Seoul. The overall death toll from the tragedy exceeded 150 on Sunday morning, while almost 200 people have been injured.

The stampede at the Halloween party in Seoul became South Korea’s worst-ever accident, with most of the people who died in the stampede being youngsters. Videos and photos of mass CPR inside the hotels and dead bodies strewn on the streets left the entire world scarred.

A stampede broke out in a jam-packed Halloween event in a popular hotel in Seoul when over 100,000 people entered the party, and chaos broke out due to overcrowding and lack of proper ventilation inside the hotel.

What happened at the Seoul Halloween party?

As many as one lakh people were thronging a hotel in the Itaewon district of Seoul, with the narrow alleys and small exits being blocked because of overcrowding. Several people had started to experience breathing problems around 10:30 pm, while chaos finally broke out just minutes later.

According to media reports, people started rushing to the bar of the hotel after there was a rumour that a celebrity has just been spotted in the area. People were making their way to the bar through narrow alleys and started to eventually pile on top of one another.

Around midnight, authorities arrived on the scene of the Halloween party and saw that hundreds of people had passed out inside the event, and they were all dragged outside from the stampede. It was reported that the majority of the injured had experienced breathing issues and cardiac arrests.

People were dragged out on the streets where visuals showed that CPR was being performed on dozens of people simultaneously, though not all of those who were injured could be saved. Till now, the total death toll from the tragedy stands at 151, while nearly 200 people were left injured.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning due to the tragic Halloween stampede in the country’s capital. The South Korean government is also planning to pay for the funeral of those who died, and the medical expenses of those who remain injured.

READ | South Korea stampede: Halloween horror night in Seoul leaves 149 dead, over 150 injured