Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—
ln a cavernous Seoul gymnasium Tuesday, grieving households inspected neat rows of belongings left behind on the scene of the lethal road crush in Itaewon.
Sneakers, baggage, glasses, notebooks, wallets, cardholders and colourful hats have been laid out on makeshift tables and train mats alongside the polished ground – ready to be claimed by the subsequent of kin of 156 victims killed in Saturday night time’s crowd surge.
“Discovered it. I believe that is the one,” mentioned one girl, as she acknowledged a black coat, hugging it as she cried.
The center-aged girl, who had arrived along with her husband, collapsed to the ground in tears after discovering a lacking pair of knee-high boots. It was amongst rows of black boots, stilettos and sneakers. In lots of instances, there was only one shoe.
One other youthful girl, sporting a forged on her left arm, walked into the gymnasium to search out her misplaced shoe. This girl, who didn’t wish to be named, mentioned she was in entrance of a bar within the alley when the crush occurred.
Caught within the crowd, she mentioned she handed out from asphyxiation “to the purpose I assumed I used to be lifeless, however a foreigner shouted at me to get up.” Her arm was badly bruised throughout the incident, and after she got here to, the girl mentioned she simply held on till the group eased and he or she may very well be rescued.
Members of the family walked into the gymnasium, one after the other and in small teams, escorted by officers who hurriedly placed on white gloves and confirmed them to the tables, so they might examine and declare the rigorously organized possessions.
South Korea is in deep mourning for the 156 individuals killed, together with 26 foreigners, within the crowd crush on Saturday night time when as many as 100,000 individuals crammed into the slender streets of Itaewon to have fun Halloween.
Officers anticipated massive numbers because of the recognition of the realm for Halloween events in pre-Covid years, however police have admitted they have been unprepared for this yr’s crowd.
Talking to the media on Tuesday, Yoon Hee-keun, head of Nationwide Police Company, bowed deeply as he started a press convention, admitting for the primary time failings on the behalf of the police within the capital that night time.
Yoon mentioned officers didn’t adequately reply to the emergency calls that flooded into the police name heart earlier than the catastrophe.
“The calls have been about emergencies telling the hazard and urgency of the state of affairs that giant crowds had gathered earlier than the accident occurred,” Yoon mentioned. “Nevertheless, we predict the police response to the 112 (emergency phone quantity) calls was insufficient.”
On Monday, Oh Seung-jin, director of the company’s violent crime investigation division, mentioned about 137 personnel had been deployed to Itaewon that night time, in comparison with about 30 to 90 personnel in earlier years earlier than the pandemic.
“For this time’s Halloween competition, as a result of it was anticipated that many individuals would collect in Itaewon, I perceive that it was ready by placing in additional police drive than different years,” mentioned Oh.
Nevertheless, police on the scene have been tasked with cracking down on criminality equivalent to drug taking and sexual abuse within the space “moderately than on web site management,” Oh mentioned.
On Tuesday, South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo mentioned a “lack of institutional information and consideration for crowd administration” was partly in charge for the group crush.
“One of many causes was an absence of deep institutional information and consideration for crowd administration. Nevertheless, the police are investigating,” Han mentioned.
“Even when extra police have been put in (to the positioning), there appears to have been a restrict within the state of affairs as we don’t have a crowd administration system, however we’ll want to attend for the police investigation to search out out the trigger,” he added.
CNN reporter returns to Itaewon’s slender alley at some point after the Halloween catastrophe. See what’s it like
At a Tuesday Cupboard assembly, President Yoon Suk Yeol urged the necessity to set up techniques to forestall comparable tragedies.
“Along with aspect streets the place this time’s massive catastrophe occurred, (we) want to ascertain security measures at stadiums, efficiency venues and and so forth. the place crowds collect,” he mentioned, including that the federal government will maintain a nationwide security system inspection assembly with related ministers and consultants quickly.