Seoul crowd crush: PM and police admit failures as anger grows; death toll rises to 156

South Korea’s prime minister has called Saturday’s deadly Halloween crush in Seoul a “disastrous accident that should not have happened”, as authorities responded to growing public anger with a series of apologies.

Expressing sorrow to bereaved families as the first memorial services were held, Han Duck-soo admitted that institutional failures in managing crowds played a role in the disaster, and said the government would work with all ministries, agencies and medical institutions to ensure such problems during spontaneous events never happened again.

The country’s police chief, Yoon Hee-keun, apologised for an “inadequate” emergency response. “We’ve judged that the response to the emergency calls was inadequate,” he said, noting the large number of calls placed before the disaster unfolded.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/01/seoul-halloween-crowd-crush-south-korea-itaewon-police-response