Crowd crush kills at least 151 at Seoul Halloween festivities

At least 151 people, mostly teenagers and young adults, died as partygoers surged through a narrow alley in a popular nightlife district in Seoul on Saturday night

turning South Korea's first significant Halloween celebration since the end of Covid restrictions into a tragedy, according to officials.

The incident's exact cause is still under investigation, but Choi Seong-bum, chief of the Yongsan-gu Fire Department,

called it a "presumed stampede," adding that many people fell and at least 82 were hurt.

According to him, the dead included at least 19 foreign nationals from countries like Iran, Norway, China, and Uzbekistan.

Early on Sunday am, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called an emergency meeting. Later, he visited the location to hear briefings from emergency personnel.

Witnesses said that even before the chaos broke out, partygoers were packed so tightly in the narrow streets that it was difficult to move around.