[Itaewon Disaster] Police "About 10 Deceased Still Unidentified"

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 Seongpil Cho] The police have reportedly not yet identified the identities of about 10 victims who died in the crush disaster that occurred on the 29th in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

According to a compilation of reports on the 30th, the police are in the process of identifying about 10 victims out of the 151 deceased as of the afternoon. As of the morning of the same day, the police completed fingerprint collection for all 151 deceased and confirmed the identities of 140. The police are individually notifying the families of the identified victims about the accident.

Earlier, to verify the identities of the victims, the police formed an emergency forensic response team consisting of 20 forensic investigators and additionally deployed 100 forensic personnel. They mainly confirm the identities of the deceased through fingerprints, and for minors without fingerprint records, they are working using genetic (DNA) comparison methods.

The police plan to quickly confirm the identities of the victims, inform the bereaved families, and cooperate with local governments to fully support the families. However, as of the afternoon, among the 103 injured, some are seriously wounded, so the number of deaths may increase in the future.

Meanwhile, the police have organized and are operating an investigation headquarters related to the Itaewon disaster. The investigation headquarters consists of a forensic team (led by the head of the Seoul Police Agency Forensic Division) with 151 members, a victim protection team (led by the head of the Seoul Police Agency Investigation Division) with 152 members, and a dedicated investigation team (led by the head of the Seoul Police Agency Gwangsu Unit) with 105 members, totaling 475 personnel. The head of the investigation headquarters will be the deputy chief of investigation of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

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