Seoul stampede: Remnants of panic fill the street where celebration became a national tragedy
There’s a stillness in Itaewon where the horror unfolded, the site of a stampede in Seoul that killed at least 153 people.
It’s 24 hours since a Halloween celebration became a national tragedy.
People have returned to the scene. Some look like they have hardly left. Everyone looks utterly bewildered.
Most victims ‘in their 20s and 30s’ – Seoul stampede live updates
Some stare, some weep and some pray.
There are wine bottles left alongside flowers, tributes to the dead that hint at what began as a night of celebration.
Among those who’ve gathered to pay their respects to the dead is Choel Jang.
“It’s just like a joke,” he tells me as he wipes tears from his eyes.
“I don’t think at such a festival there would be some young people just like me died.
“So I was really sad… I saw somebody lying on the road, and they were wearing the costume. I was so sorry for them.”
Choel says there were many young women, too small to fight through the throngs of people.
What was the area like?
Just a few steps away, you can see the site of the crush – a narrow alley on an incline.
It’s hard to believe that 100,000 people were partying around this small area, and very easy to imagine how the situation spiralled.
You can spot remnants of the panic everywhere – discarded bottles and Halloween costumes littering the street.
Eyewitnesses describe seeing people topple like dominoes, partygoers struggling to escape, emergency services struggling to reach them.
It was the first time people had been able to celebrate unmasked for three years after the COVID lockdown.
But what was meant to be a moment of freedom, became a terrifying tragedy.
‘This was next level’
Janelle Story filmed the moment things turned on her phone.
She was out with friends and felt overwhelmed by the extent of the crowds.
“This was next level. Shoulder to shoulder. Front to back. Just shimmying along on those streets. No control about where you’re going to move at times,” she tells me.
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Seoul stampede was ‘an actual horror’
Fortunately, she was able to shelter in a bar, but it was hard to unpick what was going on.
She describes chaotic scenes, with some people some still drinking and singing, unaware of bodies piling up, rescue workers frantically performing CPR – many in vain.
Janelle doesn’t think there were enough police to stem the flow of people.
Read more:
What do we know so far about the Seoul stampede?
Were there early warning signs of a crowd crush?
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“The city knows people come to Itaewon for Halloween. They know. They had been reporting about it earlier in the week, saying Itaewon had been bracing for the Halloween events this weekend. 100,000 people. They knew. So where was the crowd control?”
But South Korea’s government has said “a considerable number of police and security forces were deployed”.
The president has pledged to carry out a full investigation. But for now, the nation is submerged in grief.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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