South Korea: Seoul night-life hotspot marks one year of deadly Halloween crush
South Korea
A year after a massive stampede and crowd crush killed 159 Halloween revellers in the South Korean capital Seoul, the night-life district of Itaewon wore a quiet look on Saturday (October 28). The usual festivities of the area was replaced by mourning for the dead. Each year around Halloween, the alleys are decorated in the district that has city's hottest nightclubs and bars. But this time, posters and flowers remembering the dead were seen. The youngsters celebrated elsewhere.
AFP quoted Lee Sung-min, who lives and works in the district, saying that he didn't even realise that it was the Halloween weekend till Saturday.
"It used to be filled with visitors dressed in costumes and blood makeup by this time. But if you look at the age range of the people walking around, it's mostly just relatively old local residents," Lee said.
Watch | South Korea: G-Dragon booked under alleged drug charges
A crush in a narrow alley after crowd surge led to last year's tragedy. Many in Seoul blame the horrific incident on lack of preparation and poor crowd control measures. Early calls for help went unanswered. Most of the dead were people in their 20s and 30s.
"I've left a note telling (the victims) not to lose courage and rest in peace," said Lee Jung-hyeop, who visited Itaewon to mark the anniversary.
Police and authorities have been conducting crowd-control drills this year and gatherings haven't been banned in Itaewon. The police are taking help of an AI-backed network of nearly 1000 CCTV cameras.
Also Read | South Korean man dies from heart attack after choking on 'live octopus' dish
Many revellers are looking at other places to celebrate the festival, such Hongdae, which is another popular spot among the youth.
"I thought Hongdae would be better than Itaewon to celebrate Halloween with my boyfriend," said Cheon Ye-ji, a 19-year-old student as quoted by AFP.
"It looks like the crowd is better controlled after last year's incident."
The tragedy last year led to a police investigation which eventually acknowledged of negligence and poor response from the authorities. The probe referred 23 official for prosecution. However, it has not resulted in resignation or sacking of any senior government official.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE