150 killed in Seoul Halloween crowd surge
First responders to Saturday’s surge disaster in Seoul’s Erawan gave a first-hand account of the harrowing scene emergency workers encountered at the scene. They spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
“At 10:23 p.m. (9:24 a.m. ET) we received more than five reports of people falling and possibly injured or dead,” a first responder told CNN.
“When we arrived [at the scene], we were only able to see seven, eight — no, ten — rows of faces, we couldn’t even see their legs,” they said.
The first responder said that they first pulled people out from the bottom of the crowd because “we thought they were most urgent.”
US President Joe Biden expressed his condolences to the families of Americans killed during the Halloween festival rush in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
“Our hearts go out to their loved ones at this time of grief and we continue to pray for their recovery,” Biden tweeted Sunday.
The US State Department confirmed the two deaths and said three US citizens were also injured after attending the event in the Itawan neighborhood of Seoul.
