Seoul stampede: Death toll climbs to over 150

SEOUL: More than 150 people have been killed in a stampede at a Halloween event in Seoul, officials said Sunday, with South Korea´s president vowing a thorough investigation into one of the country´s worst-ever disasters.

The crowd surge and crush took place in the capital´s popular central Itaewon district, where estimates suggest as many as 100,000 people — mostly in their teens and 20s — went to celebrate Halloween Saturday night, clogging the area´s narrow alleyways and winding streets.

President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning Sunday, telling the country in a televised address that “a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened”.

He said the government “will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to ensure the same accident does notoccur again”.

Witnesses described being trapped in a narrow, sloping alleyway, and scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd as people piled on top of one another.“There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn´t get out at first,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP.

The interior ministry said 153 people had died, including 20 foreigners, in the stampede, which occurred around 10 pm local time (1300 GMT).Most of the victims were young women in their 20s, it said, adding that 133 people were injured.An official from the defence ministry said three military personnel were among the dead. Authorities also said they had received more than 2,600 reports of people missing.