Partygoers leave the scene after a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul on October 30.
Kim Hong-ji/Reuters
While investigators continue to piece together the exact chain of events that led to the deaths of at least 151 people during an apparent crowd surge in Seoul’s Itaewon district on Saturday night, an expert has suggested that there may have been there is “no trigger moment”.
Tens of thousands of people were on the streets of the South Korean capital to celebrate Halloween when the crush happened, according to the local fire chief, and many of them had flocked to the nightlife district of Itaewon, an area known for its vibrant nightlife as well as its narrow streets and alleys.
Witnesses said the narrow streets and alleys were filled with people congregating outside bars, pubs and restaurants.
At some point, many apparently tried to flee the area, although officials said there were no gas leaks or fires at the scene when they first received emergency calls from people “buried” in crowds in the 10:24 p.m.
Juliette Kayyem, a disaster management expert and CNN national security analyst, said the city’s density may have played a role in the tragedy.
Kayyem said that in a panic situation the combination of narrow streets and dead-end alleys “would certainly have been deadly” and that because people in Seoul are used to crowds they might not have sensed the danger.
“People in Seoul are used to being in crowded spaces, they may not have been completely alarmed by the crowded streets.”
He said panic is often a factor in tragedies like this and that “when you panic and you have nowhere to go, you’re likely to get crushed.”
However, he added that when such panics occur, “many times, there is no trigger moment.”
Still, he said that while it was difficult to identify what might have caused the crush authorities “would have anticipated high numbers … before Saturday night”.
“There is a responsibility on the authorities to monitor the volume of the crowd in real time, so they can feel the need to remove people,” Kayyem said.