South Korean authorities admit crowd control during Halloween festivities was inadequate
South Korea’s National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun said during a news conference on Tuesday that crowd control at the scene where more than 156 people were crushed to death was inadequate.
Yoon Hee-keun said that he feels limitless responsibility about public safety over this accident and will do his best to make sure such a tragedy as this does not occur again.
The police will speedily and rigorously conduct intensive inspections and investigation on all aspects without exception to explain the truth of this accident, Yoon Hee-keun added.
At least 156 mostly young people were killed and several more injured during Halloween celebrations.
The country's chief security officer, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, had said on Tuesday that deploying more police would not have prevented the disaster, where calls are growing for authorities to take responsibility for the fatal tragedy that led to the death of party-goers.
Experts have blamed a lack of adequate crowd and traffic control for the surge.
However, security experts are adamant that proper crowd and traffic control by South Korean authorities could have prevented or at least reduced the surge of Halloween party-goers in alleys that led to the crush and the deaths, Reuters reported.
It’s alleged that the Seoul event also did not have a central organising entity, which meant government authorities were not required to establish or enforce safety protocols.
Staff from the National Forensic Service and police officers on the afternoon of October 31 conducted a forensic examination of the alley where the incident occurred in the Itaewon-dong neighbourhood of Seoul's Yongsan-gu District, according to reports by Korea.net
According to South Korean authorities, police dispatched just 137 officers to the area despite estimating as many as 100 000 people would gather that night in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon.
Witnesses described being unable to move or breathe as thousands of revellers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a street no more than 4m wide, Reuters reported.
Interior Minister Lee Sang-min on Tuesday apologised for the fatal incident, admitting that authorities didn’t handle the situation effectively, which could have prevented the major loss of life.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere apologies to the public as the minister in charge of the people’s safety for this accident,” Lee Sang-min said.
Lee Sang-min paid tribute to the deceased in Itaewon District at the joint memorial altar set up in Seoul Square in Jung-gu, on October 31, according to a statement by the ministry.
Chief Yoon Hee-keun said on Tuesday in a televised briefing that officers had received multiple urgent reports of danger ahead of the deadly crowd crush at the Halloween event.
Though police knew a large crowd had gathered even before the accident occurred, the way the information was handled was insufficient, Yoon Hee-keun said in the media briefing.
Reuters reports that business owners in the neighbourhood have said they met local police officials before the Halloween festivities, but alleged that officers were mostly focused on curbing drug and sexual abuses and other crimes, as well as the spread of Covid-19.
Several world leaders have sent their condolences over the Itaewon incident.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning as distraught relatives continue to flock to the city’s hospitals searching for their missing family members.
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