South Korea declares national mourning
Seoul, The Gulf Observer: Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared national mourning period over a stampede during Halloween festivities that left 151 people dead including 19 foreigners.
“In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened,” Yoon said in a national address on Sunday, vowing to “thoroughly investigate” the incident and ensure it could never happen again.
Yoon’s announcement came after a mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween festivities in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley, causing country’s worst disaster in years.Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying in the streets after the crush in the capital’s leisure district of Itaewon.
