At least 151 people were killed and 76 others were injured in a crowd surge on Saturday night, after Halloween celebrations turned deadly in the capital of South Korea.
The stampede broke out in Itaewon, a popular district in Seoul among locals and foreigners alike because of its international cuisine and nightlife.
Some 100,000 people were estimated to have flocked to the neighborhood to celebrate Halloween — forming the biggest crowds seen in the area since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to local media sites, the mass surge is thought to have happened in a small alleyway lined with pubs and restaurants off of a main thoroughfare.
Choi Seong-Beom, the head of the Yongsan fire department in Seoul, warned that the death toll might increase and that the precise number of persons in critical condition is still unknown
Young adults made up a large portion of the victims, according to local media reports. Emergency personnel from all across the nation were sent to the area to provide medical care for the injured at a makeshift facility.
Pictures and videos from the scene show first responders taking some of the dead and injured away on stretchers, while many covered bodies lay in the street.
The injured were to be treated, emergency workers were to be sent out, hospital beds were to be secured, and a meeting was called by President Yoon Suk Yeol.