Police and Firefighters Dispatched to 'Gangnam Station Crowd Crush Risk' Report... No Accident
by Kim Hyunjeong2
Published 21 Jul.2023 21:15(KST)
Updated 21 Jul.2023 21:17(KST)
Preemptive Control... Blocking Entry at Some Exits
Fake News Suspected of 'Crush Accident' Also Emerges
On the 21st, during rush hour, the Seoul Metropolitan Police responded to a report expressing concern about a potential crush accident due to the excessive crowd at Gangnam Station on the Seoul subway. Police dispersed the crowd and controlled access to some exits.
According to the Gangnam Police Station and fire authorities, at around 5:47 PM that day, a 112 emergency call was received stating, "There are too many people at Gangnam Station, and a crush accident seems likely. It needs to be controlled." In response, safety personnel from Seoul Metro immediately began managing the crowd, and police and fire authorities also arrived at the scene.
The fire authorities controlled access to Exit 12, which leads toward Yeoksam Station, while deploying personnel at other exits to prevent crowd congestion. They also dispersed crowds at the turnstiles toward Gyodae Station, which sees heavy subway usage. As of 7 PM, with the decrease in foot traffic, police and fire authorities withdrew, and no casualties occurred.
A police official stated, "The crowd was not significantly different from a typical Friday evening rush hour."
Meanwhile, starting from 6 PM, multiple online communities posted messages such as "Breaking news - Gangnam Station is being controlled due to suspected crush accident," causing a commotion. However, this was later proven to be false.
Photos accompanying these posts showed a firefighter holding a red flashlight standing near a yellow caution tape at one of Gangnam Station's exits. After it was revealed that the "suspected crush accident" was fake news, most of the posts shared online were soon deleted.
According to the "2022 Public Transportation Usage Status" announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in May, Gangnam Station was the busiest subway station in Seoul last year. The public transportation usage data was analyzed based on public transportation card data.
The subway stations with the highest average daily ridership in Seoul were Gangnam Station (71,598 people), Jamsil Station (68,635 people), Hongdae Ipgu Station (57,426 people), Sillim Station (54,638 people), and Guro Digital Complex Station (50,517 people).
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