At Least 146 People Killed During Halloween Event in South Korea

A Halloween event in South Korea took a deadly turn.

On Saturday (October 29), a crowd surge occurred in a narrow alley in the town of Itaewon, Seoul, leaving at least 146 people dead and more than 150 people injured.

The mass casualty incident prompted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to order the government to provide disaster medical emergency assistance.

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“The top priority is to evacuate and save the victims. We should take them to urgent medical treatment as quickly as possible,” the president said to his cabinet, The New York Times reports.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a popular nightlife spot hosted the first Halloween event that required no masks. The event was swarmed with reportedly over 100,000 residents, who started experiencing “difficulty breathing.”

As of right now, authorities have yet to release the official case of the incident and the deaths. However, the Yonhap News Agency (via CNN) reported people were suffering “cardiac arrest” during the stampede.

More than 400 emergency personnel from around the country were dispatched to assist with the situation, CBS News reports. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also sent out emergency text messages to people in the area, encouraging them to return home immediately.