[Itaewon Tragedy] Large-scale Damage Due to Pressure Principle... "Must Avoid Exit Routes at All Costs"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byun Seon-jin] The Halloween crowd crush disaster that occurred on the night of the 29th in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, resulted in a large-scale casualty toll of 233 people (as of 10 a.m.), including 151 dead and 82 injured. The cause is attributed to the large crowd gathering in a narrow, sloped space. The narrow width of about 4 meters, enough for 5 to 6 adults to pass through, and the 45-meter-long downhill path where tens of thousands of people were packed created a situation where people could not move, and as people fell one after another like dominoes, the crowd piled up layer upon layer. Once someone fell, it became impossible to get up again, and this situation lasted for at least 20 to 30 minutes, increasing the scale of compressive asphyxia, which is presumed to be the cause of death.

Professor Jung Chang-sam of the Department of Smart Construction and Disaster Prevention at Induk University said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 30th, “Even if the pushing force is weak in a crowded narrow space, the pressure increases.” Pressure refers to the force pressing vertically per unit area, so if the area is small, pressure inevitably increases even if the force is weak. There is also experimental data showing that when 100 people weighing 65 kg each are pushed at once, the pressure can reach up to 18 tons.

Another problem was that the crowd trapped by people was compressed from all sides, leaving no room for the lungs to expand. Professor Jung explained, “In a situation where even minimal space is not secured, muscle consumption for oxygen breathing inevitably increases, and if this process continues for 20 to 30 minutes, the damage inevitably worsens.”

Because the golden time for compressive asphyxia is 3 to 4 minutes, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) must be performed quickly, but it was difficult for rescue personnel such as firefighters and police to extract victims due to the crowd being tightly packed. With more than 300 patients experiencing cardiac arrest and respiratory distress that could lead to brain death or death, the number of paramedics capable of emergency treatment was severely insufficient. Professor Jung advised, “If the crowd had moved in one direction during this Itaewon disaster, the damage might have been smaller, but because everyone was moving in different directions, congestion occurred. In places with large crowds, evacuation routes should be avoided at all costs.”

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