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.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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