이태원 참사
Welcome to Issues and Insiders.
Korea is reeling... in the aftermath... of the Halloween tragedy... that unfolded... in the Itaewon district... of Seoul... this past Saturday.
For more... I have Kwon Soa... here in the studio.
Soa... welcome.
I also have Sebastien Falletti... with us.
Sebastien... it's good to have you here.
1) Soa, let's start with the timeline of this tragedy as well as the tallies as of this Monday afternoon.
- More than 300 casualties.
- 154 people have been confirmed dead,… this number remains same as late Sunday afternoon. The number of injured has gone up to 149 as of this Monday.
- Around 4,000 people have been reported missing.
- Young women in their 20s accounted for the most fatalities,…
- There were also dozens of victims in their 30s, some in their 40s and even 11 teens.
- 26 were foreigners from 14 nationalities.
- Let’s go back to the tragic night,...
- Tens-of-thousands of people,… according to reports the crowd may have been as large as 100,000 were estimated to have been enjoying Halloween festivities in Itaewon Yongsan district,… one of the most iconic nightlife streets in Seoul,… before the location became a nightmare.
- At around 10:15 p.m., screams came out of an alley beside Hamilton Hotel,... that was when the first emergency calls were made,… that said around 10 people are buried,… and reports saying people are having breathing difficulties.
- Fire authorities, from a nearby fire station were deployed two minutes later, as well as ambulances,… which however struggled to get to the accident site,… due to the massive amount of people in the streets.
- Rescue operations at the site were difficult as well,… as the alley was packed in overcapacity,… and people were stacked on each other,… making it difficult to rescue those way beneath them.
- The scene of the accident was described as having happened instantly,.. according to witnesses,.. after people from both directions pushed and then once one started to fall people toppled like dominoes,.. in the narrow 4-meter wide downhill alley,… at some point it was just around 3 meters wide.
- Dozens of people were lying unconsciously,… hundreds of people needed CPR,… which was conducted by not only rescuers but ordinary people.
- A first stage response was issued at 10:43 p.m., which was upgraded to stage 2 and 3 at 11:13 and 11:50 p.m. respectively.
- In total, around 2,700 personnel,… including fire and police staff were mobilized.
- This was the first Halloween event after most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, including the mandatory outdoor mask rule.
- it led to the deadliest stampede in S. Korea, and the worst tragedy since the 2014 Sewolho ferry sinking, that killed 304 people,… mostly high school students.
2) Sebastien, contrary to initial reports that spoke of simply two foreigners losing their lives, dozens of foreign nationals were on the list of fatalities by Sunday morning.
Do tell us more.
3) Soa, I believe President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday declared a period of national mourning in light of this sad and shocking event?
4) And Sebastien, what has been the response from the international community with regard to this tragic loss here in Seoul?
5) Now Soa, what has been disclosed about the cause of this tragic accident thus far?
6) Sebastien, you've been covering this deadly disaster for Le Figaro over the weekend, what can you share with us about your coverage?
7) Soa, I understand all planned Halloween activities have been cancelled here on the local front as the nation mourns this painful period.
8) And Sebastien, such shocking stories of stampede have been shared beyond national borders as well this year, right?
All right.
#ITAEWON #Tragedy #arirang_news
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2022-10-31, 14:30 (KST)