South Korea's lethal Halloween stampede was avoidable: Report | World News

Correct crowd and site visitors management by South Korean authorities may have prevented or at the very least diminished the surge of Halloween party-goers in alleys that led to a crush and the deaths of 154 individuals, security consultants stated on Monday.

The annual festivities within the in style nightlife space of Itaewon in Seoul additionally didn't have a central organising entity, which meant authorities authorities weren't required to ascertain or implement security protocols.

District authorities for Yongsan, the place Itaewon is positioned, mentioned measures to stop unlawful drug use and the unfold of COVID-19 in the course of the Halloween weekend, in keeping with a district press launch. There was, nevertheless, no point out of crowd management.

On Saturday when the tragedy occurred, roughly 100,000 individuals have been estimated to be in Itaewon, an space recognized for its hills and slim alleys. In response to Seoul Metro, some 81,573 individuals disembarked at Itaewon subway station on the day, up from round 23,800 per week earlier and about 35,950 on Friday.

However there have been solely 137 cops in Itaewon on the time, town of Seoul stated.

In distinction, at rallies by labour unions and by supporters of President Yoon Suk-yeol that drew tens of hundreds in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on the identical Saturday, as much as 4,000 police have been deployed, a police official stated.

"Police are actually engaged on an intensive evaluation of the incident's trigger," Minister of the Inside and Security Lee Sang-min stated on Monday.

"It is not acceptable to make hasty conclusions earlier than the precise trigger is decided - whether or not it was brought on by an absence of police or whether or not there's something that we should always basically change for rallies and gatherings."

President Yoon has known as for an intensive investigation into the reason for the crush in addition to enhancements in security measures that can be utilized for big gatherings the place there is no such thing as a set organiser.

Whereas South Korea has a security handbook for festivals anticipated to draw greater than 1,000 individuals, the handbook presupposes an organising physique in command of security planning and requesting authorities assets.

Simply two weeks earlier, the Itaewon World Village Competition organised by a tourism affiliation and sponsored by town of Seoul and Yongsan district, had individuals carrying yellow vests directing the circulate of motion and the principle highway was closed to automotive site visitors.

However on Saturday, there have been simply hundreds of retailers open for enterprise, regular automotive site visitors guidelines and tens of hundreds of younger individuals wanting to rejoice Halloween with out main COVID restrictions for the primary time because the pandemic.

"Simply because it is not named a 'pageant' does not imply there needs to be any distinction by way of catastrophe administration," stated Paek Seung-joo, a professor of fireplace & catastrophe safety at Open Cyber College of Korea.

"As there was no central authority, every authorities arm simply did what they normally do - the fireplace division ready for fires and the police ready for crime. There must be a system the place a neighborhood authorities takes the reins and cooperates with different authorities to arrange for the worst," he stated.

Moon Hyeon-cheol, a professor on the Graduate Faculty of Catastrophe Security Administration at Soongsil College, stated any such crush had the potential to occur in any populous metropolis.

"We have to take this tragedy and be taught to arrange for the danger of catastrophe," he stated.