Records show that police were called four hours before a crowd crush killed 156 people. Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
Emergency calls made in the hours and minutes before a Halloween party crush that killed more than 150 people in Seoul have revealed the growing fear of revellers and how they urged police to intervene.
The transcripts of 11 emergency calls released by the police showed the first warning of a possible deadly surge was made at 6:34pm local time on Saturday, roughly four hours before the crush turned deadly.
National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun acknowledged today that crowd control at the scene was "inadequate", noting police had received multiple reports warning of possible accidents on the night of the disaster.
The interior minister and the city mayor have also apologised.
Proper crowd and traffic control by the authorities may have prevented or at least reduced the surge of partygoers, safety experts have said.
The transcripts, released to the media, give a chilling prediction of how the tragedy would unfold.
"Looks like you can get crushed to death with people keep coming up here while there's no room for people to go down," a citizen said in that first call.
"I barely managed to leave but there are too many people. Looks like you should come and control."
Emergency service personnel are seen in the alley where a Halloween stampede took place late 29 October, in the neighbourhood of Itaewon in Seoul on October 30, 2022. Photo: AFP
'Looks like there could be an accident'
The crush on Saturday night local time killed 156 people, many aged in their teens and 20s, and injured another 157 as revellers flooded the narrow alleyways of the popular Itaewon district to mark the first virtually unrestricted Halloween festivities in three years.
Police received 10 other similar calls before the chaos was known to have turned fatal - and released all those transcripts on Tuesday.
The transcripts appear to confirm the accounts of witnesses, who told Reuters they saw some police directing traffic on the main road but few or no officers in the crowded pedestrian alleyways and side streets.
Roughly 100,000 people were estimated to be in Itaewon on Saturday, an area known for its hills and narrow alleys.
There were 137 police officers there at the time, authorities have said.
"People are falling down on the streets," another caller said at 8:33pm, according to the police transcript.
"Looks like there could be an accident. It looks very dangerous."
The latest call released by the police came at 10:11pm, minutes before people packed into one particularly narrow and sloping alley began to fall over each other shortly before 10:30pm.
A woman lays a flower at the scene of a Halloween stampede in the capital's popular Itaewon district in Seoul on October 30, 2022. Photo: JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
Police to investigate 'all aspects'
Police went to the scene for four out of the 11 calls, a police official told reporters.
It was not immediately clear why officers were not deployed in response to the other calls or what safety measures they took after arriving.
"Those things are all under inspection now, so it's difficult for me to answer at this point," a National Police Agency official said.
The official did not elaborate on the contents of the transcripts.
"The police will speedily and rigourously conduct intensive inspections and investigation on all aspects without exception to explain the truth of this accident," Yoon told a news conference earlier.
As police began investigating how so many people were killed, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the probe would also cover whether government agencies' on-site responses were appropriate.
President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a week of national mourning, and called for better safety measures to manage crowds even when there is no central organising entity.
The festivities in Itaewon did not have a central organiser, which meant government authorities were not required to establish or enforce safety protocols.
The disaster was the country's deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.
- Reuters/ABC