More than 150 killed in Halloween stampede in Seoul

A man prays near a makeshift memorial outside the Itaewon subway station in Seoul

More than 150 people were killed in a stampede at a Halloween event in central 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.

He said the government "will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to ensure the same accident does not occur again".

"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.

Most of the victims were young women in their 20s, it said, adding that 133 people were injured.

Authorities also said they had received more than 2,600 reports of people missing.

Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon, who rushed back to South Korea from a work trip in Europe, said his office would set up a memorial altar so the public could pay their respects to the victims, starting Monday morning.

Officials said Sunday they had no clear idea of what caused the crush, while witnesses described scenes of chaos after a vast crowd panicked in the narrow alleyway.

As questions began to emerge over a lack of security at the event, interior minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing that the police force had been preoccupied on the other side of town.

Police had also not expected such a large crowd at the Halloween event, he added.

In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor at the event, described the chaos.

Photos captured by AFP showed scores of bodies on the pavement covered by bed sheets, and emergency workers loading more bodies on stretchers into ambulances.

Twitter user @janelles_story shared a video that she said showed Itaewon shortly before the stampede in which hundreds of young people, many in elaborate Halloween costumes, are seen in a narrow street lined with bars and cafes.

The interior ministry said the 20 foreigners killed included people from the United States, Uzbekistan, Austria, Norway, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Sri Lanka. 

China also confirmed that four of its nationals had died, with President Xi Jinping sending "deep condolences" to Seoul.

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