Seoul distress calls show four hours of panic, police inaction
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The crush in the narrow alleyways of the Itaewon entertainment district on Saturday killed 156 people.
PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL - South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo vowed on Wednesday to hold the police accountable for Seoul’s deadly Halloween crowd surge, after a log of emergency calls showed slow response from the authorities.
The crush in the narrow alleyways of the Itaewon entertainment district last Saturday killed 156 people, mostly costumed young partygoers looking for a night of post-pandemic fun.
The first emergency call came at 6.34pm from a nervous caller warning that police needed to control the crowd before the crush of people turned deadly.
This is a condensed transcript of some of the increasingly desperate calls to the police:
6.34pm
“This is getting really nervous with people coming up and down this alleyway. People can’t walk down here, but people keep coming up. I feel like people are going to get crushed to death... I think you need to control the situation.”
8.09pm
“There are too many people here being pushed, trampled, hurt. It’s chaotic. You need to control this.”
8.33pm
“People are trampled on the streets here. This is getting dangerous... There’s no control and a three-way road is all blocked. I have a video shot. Can I send it to you?”
8.53pm
“People are almost getting crushed to death... There are too many people... This is not a prank call.”
9.00pm
“The situation here is on the verge of falling into a major accident with too many people. You need to come to put it under control.”
9.02pm
“People are being pushed hard here and everyone is in panic... Please do something about making space here. I think people are going to die.”
9.07pm
“I am at the risk of being crushed to death with so many people here... I please ask you to direct one-way traffic here.”
9.10pm
“The situation is really serious. People inside the alley are getting pressed so hard... This is not just a store area. The whole alley is (in danger).”
A police responder says: “I got it. We will deploy policemen there.”
9.51pm
“There are too many people here. Can you come out here as soon as possible for crowd control?”
10.11pm
“It looks like people are getting crushed to death there... total mayhem.” AFP
