South Korea stampede: What we know so far about the crowd crush that left dozens dead
Dozens of mostly young people have been left dead in a crowd crush at Halloween festivities in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul – with more than 1,700 emergency workers deployed to the scene.
Officials say the stampede took place after a large crowd pushed forward on a narrow street during festivities.
Here, Sky News looks at how and what possibly caused the tragedy – which is being touted as one of South Korea’s biggest-ever disasters.
South Korea stampede live updates
What happened?
At least 146 people have been killed and 150 others were injured after the stampede in Seoul on Saturday night, according to local fire authorities.
The victims were crushed by a large crowd pushing forward on a narrow alley in the South Korean capital’s Itaewon neighbourhood, a major leisure and nightlife district in the capital.
Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department, said the number of deaths could rise and that an unspecified number of the injured were in critical condition – with at least 50 people being treated for cardiac arrest.
“A number of people fell during a Halloween festival, and we have a large number of casualties,” Mr Choi said.
He said the bodies were being taken to hospitals or a gym, where bereaved family members could identify them.
He added that most of the dead and injured are women in their 20s and many of them were killed near a nightclub.
Some witnesses said the crowd had become increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening went on. The incident happened at about 10.20pm (1.20pm GMT).
Many described chaotic scenes moments before the crush, with police officers on hand at the event in anticipation of having trouble maintaining control of the crowds.
All of Seoul’s available emergency personnel were deployed to the stampede scene
What caused the stampede?
It is not clear what prompted the crowd surge, although some local media reports said a large number of people had rushed to the area after hearing an unidentified celebrity had been there.
Witnesses said people had flooded into the narrow downhill alley near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.
One witness, in his 20s, told Yonhap news agency: “As people in the front fell over, those in the back were crushed.”
Footage posted online showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.
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Huge crowds at festivities in Seoul
Mr Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the single narrow alley.
Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire officials and citizens treating dozens of people who appeared to be unconscious.
Police will also be investigating whether bars and clubs in the area were complying with safety regulations, media reported.
What witnesses are saying
Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alleys before the incident.
“It was at least more than 10 times crowded than usual,” he told Reuters news agency.
A survivor named Kim told Seoul-based Hankyoreh newspaper that people fell and toppled on one another “like dominos” after they were pushed by others in the narrow street.
Kim said some people shouted: “Help me!”
Others were short of breath.
Kim described being trampled by other people for about 1.5 hours before being rescued.
Officials say the death toll could rise
Another survivor, named Lee Chang-kyu, told the newspaper he saw five or six men start pushing others before one or two began falling at the start of the stampede.
In an interview with news channel YTN, Hwang Min-hyeok, a visitor to Itaewon, said it was shocking to see rows of bodies laid down in the alley near the Hamilton Hotel.
He said emergency workers were initially overwhelmed, leaving pedestrians struggling to administer CPR to the injured lying on the streets.
People cried beside bodies, he added.
The stampede took place during Halloween festivities in Itaewon, Seoul
Emergency response
All available emergency services personnel in Seoul were deployed to the streets to treat the injured following the stampede.
The National Fire Agency says that more than 1,700 personnel from across South Korea were sent, including 520 firefighters, 1,100 police officers, and 70 government workers.
Post-pandemic crowds
Itaewon is popular with young people who flock to its bars and restaurants – so after three years of COVID restrictions, many were keen to experience their first Halloween festivities together.
Curfews on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April, and an outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.
Some estimates said there were about 100,000 people at Saturday night’s event.
“You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks… but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that,” Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.
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South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.
His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
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It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
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