Halloween Crowd Crush Disaster in Itaewon... "Casualties Transported to Nearby Hospitals Including Soonchunhyang University Hospital"

Fire Authorities "220 Casualties... 120 Deaths" ... Response Level 3
Minister of the Interior and Safety and Minister of Health and Welfare Arrive on Site
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Returns Urgently from Europe Trip

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] A massive crowd gathered all at once in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, resulting in a large-scale disaster. While many of the injured are being transported to nearby hospitals, the number of fatalities has rapidly increased.

According to the fire authorities on the 30th, as of 2:40 a.m., 120 people have died and 100 were injured. After 74 people were moved to hospitals, they were declared dead, and 46 were temporarily placed at the scene before being transferred to Wonhyo-ro Indoor Gymnasium. Choi Seong-beom, chief of the Yongsan Fire Station, explained, "During the Halloween event, a crowd collapse occurred, causing numerous casualties."

The casualties were transported to Soonchunhyang University Hospital, National Medical Center, Ewha Mokdong Hospital, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, and Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital. It is known that many of the injured were transported to hospitals in a state of cardiac arrest, so the death toll is expected to rise further.

The fire authorities conducted multiple searches around the Hamilton Hotel area in Itaewon. So far, 848 personnel, including 364 firefighters, have been deployed to the accident site.

Earlier, the fire authorities received dozens of reports starting at 10:24 p.m. the previous day about people being crushed and experiencing breathing difficulties near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon. Within one hour after the first call, 81 reports were received, but the fire authorities had difficulty accessing the scene due to the crowd.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

About 20 minutes after the first report was received, at 10:43 p.m., the fire authorities activated Level 1 and requested dispatch of the 119 Emergency Medical Support Team. As the number of casualties surged, the response was escalated to Level 2 at 11:13 p.m. and Level 3 at 11:50 p.m.

Meanwhile, the head of the Fire and Disaster Headquarters is currently directing the rescue efforts, while the Minister of the Interior and Safety and the Minister of Health and Welfare have arrived at the scene to assess the situation. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, upon hearing the news of the disaster, suspended his European business trip and rushed back to Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.