[Itaewon Disaster] Foreign Experts: "Large Events Need Processes for Crowd Management"

On the 30th, ahead of Halloween, a massive crush disaster occurred in the Itaewon area. Police forces are controlling the scene and moving busily in the Itaewon area of Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] On the night of the 29th, a crush disaster occurred in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and foreign experts pointed out that large events must have processes to manage crowds.

The American daily The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 30th the diagnosis of crowd safety experts related to the crush accident.

Martin Ames, a professor at Northumbria University in England, UK, who researches crowd simulation and bioinformatics, argued that large events require proper planning and trained personnel to manage crowds.

Professor Ames explained, "From a general perspective, unless an appropriate crowd management process is established to predict, detect, and prevent dangerously high crowd density, such incidents will continue to occur."

G. Keith Steel, a crowd safety expert and professor at the University of Suffolk in England, UK, also said, "Such accidents occur when there is a pushing movement in a narrow and enclosed space packed with people, causing the crowd to fall," adding, "It is like a domino effect."

Professor Steel explained, "If you are in an enclosed space, the entire crowd falls like one, and people cannot get back up."

People trapped in the crowd are pressed from above and below, leaving no space for lung expansion, making it difficult to breathe. Professor Steel said, "It takes about six minutes for compressive asphyxia, presumed to be the cause of death in crush accidents, to begin." He also pointed out that due to long-term restrictions on outdoor gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are participating in events like this one.

CNN reporter Will Ripley noted that this was the first Halloween event in three years without COVID-19 related restrictions, saying, "There was no mask mandate or crowd size limit. There was a loudspeaker warning to be careful." He added, "The big unanswered questions now are 'why' and 'what else can be done?'"

In a separate article titled "How and Where Did the Seoul Crush Accident Occur," WP reported that while the cause of this tragedy is under investigation, footage from the scene suggests that the narrow streets and alleys could not handle the scale of the crowd.

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