South Korea crush: Police should explain why it failed to act on time, says PM

South Korea's prime minister called on the police Wednesday to explain why it failed to respond to multiple emergency calls ahead of a deadly Halloween crowd surge. Investigators have been raiding police stations following the death of at least 156 people in the tragedy. Around 172 were left injured, with 33 in serious condition in the crush late Saturday at the first post-pandemic Halloween party in Seoul's popular Itaewon nightlife district.

AFP reported that transcripts of calls made hours before disaster struck show how desperate the situation had become due to the swelling crowds.

Also Read |Police were alerted four hours before the deadly crush

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While officials had earlier talked about the first call being received by the the fire department at 10:15 pm Saturday, the transcripts show someone called the police emergency hotline at 6:34 pm asking for help. Ten other similar calls were received in which the callers were pleading desperately for police to come to the scene. The final call was placed just minutes before people started falling over each other.

The gathering in Itaewon saw an estimated 100,000 people turn up but neither the police nor local authorities were officially managing the crowd. The police responded to four of the 11 calls made and there is no clarity over why wasn't action taken on the other calls or what safety measures they took after arriving.

"When each citizen makes an emergency call, it is when they are very urgent and in dire need of help or action from the police," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a government meeting.

"The government will sternly hold accountable those who were responsible as soon as the investigation is completed," he said.

The exact cause of the crush is being investigated and multiple police offices were raided as part of it, including in the district where the disaster happened.

"The special investigation team is conducting a raid on eight agencies including the Seoul Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station and the Yongsan Gu Office," a spokesman for the national police agency told AFP.

The government also saidit would revamp the police's 112 emergency call service.

"The government will do its best to create a safer society by using this accident as a lesson," said Park Jong-hyun of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Members of the Opposition have called for the immediate dismissal of the national police chief and the interior minister.

National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun on Tuesday acknowledged crowd control at the scene was "inadequate" and promised a thorough internal investigation.

(With inputs from agencies)