By The SUN
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| Emergency service crews conduct on-site rescue in Itaewon hours after the tragedy (Reuters photo) |
Halloween night would be a lot more strict in Hong Kong’s famed Lan Kwai Fong bar alley following the stampede in Seoul Saturday night that killed at least 153 people, mostly young revelers, and injured dozens others.
A director of the Lan
Kwai Fong Association, Anthea Cheung, said in an interview with RTHK that the
public should not worry about a similar tragedy happening in the area again as her
group has tightened security and crowd control measures ahead of tomorrow’s Halloween
revelry.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Cheung said the police
and the Transport Department are working with them to ensure the safety of
people who are expected to troop to the bar-lined streets Monday night for the
traditional Halloween festivities that were halted by the pandemic for the past
three years.
The stampede in Seoul’s
Itaewon district brought back memories of a similar event that happened in Lan
Kwai Fong on Jan. 1, 1993, when thousands of young people who poured out onto
the steep street after the New Year countdown slid and fell onto each other.
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Twenty people died and
63 others were injured in the tragedy.
Meanwhile, world
leaders have extended their condolences to the families of the victims of the
Itaewon Halloween crush, as South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a
period of national mourning Sunday.
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Yoon expressed sadness
over the tragedy where the victims were mostly teenagers or were in their 20s.
"This is truly tragic," he said in a statement. "A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night."
Among those who
extended sympathy was Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee, who said in a Facebook
post: “It is with sadness that we learnt of the tragedy in Seoul, Korea. I
express profound sorrow over the passing of the victims, extend my deepest
condolences to their families and wish for a speedy recovery to all those who
were injured.”
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Lee added the government would keep an eye on the incident, and the Security Bureau is on standby to assist any Hong Kong resident who may need help.
The Itaewon tragedy happened as Seoul marked its first Halloween celebration in three years after the government
lifted all social distancing restrictions.
Eyewitnesses said the
crowd in the narrow alley where the stampede happened was about 10 times more
packed than usual, causing people to push against each other to get some breathing
space.
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| Press for details |
The crush happened at
about 10:20pm Saturday when those on top of the street fell amid the shoving,
causing a domino-like effect. People began falling on top of each other, with
those at the bottom of the street bearing the brunt of the crush.
Following the
stampede, social media footage showed hundreds of people piled on top of each
other, most of them crushed and immobile, while rescuers tried to pull them
out.
A report said many of
those killed were women in their 20s and were trampled to death near a nightclub.
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Reuters news agency said the foreigners who died in the tragedy were from China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Norway.
President Yoon has ordered the setting up of a task force to look after the
injured and conduct an investigation into the cause of the tragedy.
The Halloween nightmare is South Korea’s
worst disaster since the sinking of a ferry in 2014 killed 304, mostly high
school students
