151 people trampled to death at Halloween event in Seoul

[woolfe9998]

This story is developing. CNN and Yahoo have the death toll at 59, but WaPo has it at 120. The higher number usually turns out to be more up to date and accurate.

Evidentally there was some kind of Halloween event in Seoul. People funneled into a narrow street, too many people, and people were crushed and trampled. Oddly, CNN says people died of "cardiac arrest." Sounds like something generalized from official authorities. I guess if the heart stops it's a cardiac arrest.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/asia/south-korea-halloween-cardiac-arrest-intl/index.html

https://news.yahoo.com/officials-dozens-cardiac-arrest-seoul-151950931.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/29/itaewon-seoul-halloween-stampede/

Never heard of that many people dying from being trampled. I seem to recall some soccer games back in the 90's where like 6-8 people died that way.

Quite a gruesome catastrophe. You'd except police would handle crowd control? Someone's going to get blamed for this, because that's just how things work.

 

[Brainonska511]

Evidentally there was some kind of Halloween event in Seoul. People funneled into a narrow street, too many people, and people were crushed and trampled. Oddly, CNN says people died of "cardiac arrest." Sounds like something generalized from official authorities. I guess if the heart stops it's a cardiac arrest.

From my understanding based on what my med student wife just explained to me, in a crush type situation, movement can become so restricted because people are packed in that you have reduced or limited blood flow back to the heart, and it can lead to cardiac arrest. Apparently, also much faster way to die than simply suffocating.

 

[Moonbeam]

Quite a gruesome catastrophe. You'd except police would handle crowd control? Someone's going to get blamed for this, because that's just how things work.

I await word on what caused the incident. No fire and no gas leak. Seems as though something must have triggered a panic attack. I wonder if there is a gene that keeps some people out of crowds. Even democracy is subject to crowd mass hysteria. When fear strikes it's everybody for himself. No concern for who you step on.

My guess is it wouldn't have happened if all those people had been Navy Seals.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Indus]

I've been in such a situation on New Years (2015) where in a narrow street.. there were so many late night partygoers there was no way to get out or through.

Generally you just form a queue and follow the person in front of you but this became a queue, then hugging and then congested with no room to breathe almost.

Somehow after 45 minutes managed to wriggle out of the 100 yards or so.. yes walking 100 yards took 45 minutes.

After that I avoid stadiums, crowded places. Hell I live in New York and I have avoided subways now since 2015.

Somehow miraculously no one was shot or trampled.. maybe because it was Chinatown in New York.

 

[Moonbeam]

CNN reports deaths up to 146.

 

[FireMarshallBill]

Never heard of that many people dying from being trampled. I seem to recall some soccer games back in the 90's where like 6-8 people died that way.

Probably the 1989 Hillsborough disaster - 97 dead, 766 injured

A couple other stampede/crush events:

1823 Carnival tragedy - ~110 dead (all children)
1883 Victoria Hall disaster - 183 dead (all children)
1896 Khodynka Tragedy - 1282 dead, estimated 1200+ injured
1902 Shiloh Baptist Church stampede - 115 dead (a "yelling 'fire!' in a theatre" event)
1913 Italian Hall disaster - 73 dead (another "'fire' in a theatre" event)
1941 stampede of evacuees to an air raid shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing - 1000+ dead
1953 Stalin funeral stampede - 109+ dead
1979 The Who concert disaster - 11 dead, 26 injured
1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy - 1426 dead
2008 Jodhpur stampede - 224 dead, 425 injured
2010 Love Parade disaster - 21 dead, 652 injured
2015 Hajj stampede - estimated 2236 to 2431 dead
2022 Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster - 135 dead, 583 injured

 

[Thump553]

Probably the 1989 Hillsborough disaster - 97 dead, 766 injured

A couple other stampede/crush events:

1823 Carnival tragedy - ~110 dead (all children)
1883 Victoria Hall disaster - 183 dead (all children)
1896 Khodynka Tragedy - 1282 dead, estimated 1200+ injured
1902 Shiloh Baptist Church stampede - 115 dead (a "yelling 'fire!' in a theatre" event)
1913 Italian Hall disaster - 73 dead (another "'fire' in a theatre" event)
1941 stampede of evacuees to an air raid shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing - 1000+ dead
1953 Stalin funeral stampede - 109+ dead
1979 The Who concert disaster - 11 dead, 26 injured
1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy - 1426 dead
2008 Jodhpur stampede - 224 dead, 425 injured
2010 Love Parade disaster - 21 dead, 652 injured
2015 Hajj stampede - estimated 2236 to 2431 dead
2022 Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster - 135 dead, 583 injured

You missed the big one-at least 2,000 died in 2015 in Mina (Mecca).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Mina_stampede

 

[kt]

Death count is at 151 now as reported by CNN.

 

[JTsyo]

Crowd crush:
Crowd collapses and crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When a body of people reaches or exceeds the density of four to five people per square metre (0.37 to 0.46/sq ft), the pressure on each individual can cause the crowd to collapse in on itself, or become so densely packed that individuals are crushed and asphyxiated. At this density, too, a crowd can start to act like a fluid, sweeping individuals around without their volition.

 

[HomerJS]

It’s called stupidity can lead to violence when masses gather

We don’t blame the event. The event did not promote the violence

This illustrates the false premise BLM protests were political violence. They weren’t. It was more like this. Just like the Halloween event did not promote violence neither did BLM.

Jan 6 was a planned armed violent insurrection. The real political violence

 

[kage69]

So horrible. I'm making the decision not to read the details.

I know blaming the event doesn't really work, but I wouldn't be surprised if China tried.

 

[Captante]

You have to really be vigilant in huge crowds.... watch the "flow" around you and pay attention to the atmosphere. If you feel "tension" building it's time to relocate BEFORE the poo hits the fan.

Getting crushed/trampled is only one possible danger... anytime you get a high number/density of people close together for ANY reason it's an extremely volatile situation.

ALWAYS know where the exits are and ALWAYS make an effort to maintain "situational awareness".... it can save your life.

 

[zinfamous]

I've been in 2 rushing-the-field events after college football game, and pretty quickly realized how bad it can get when you lose agency over where you want to be.

I have no interest in being in such a crowd situation after that.

 

[Muse]

From the lead NY Times article right now:

“The worst part was as people were giving CPR and dying, the clubs were still going, and they ran until 4 a.m.,” Mr. Ahmed said.

Soh Won, 18, a high school student, said he saw some partygoers still drinking and singing next to the bodies on the street.

“I lost my faith in humanity,” he said.

A ‘Sea of Bodies’: How a Festive Night in Seoul Turned Deadly (Published 2022)

There were few police officers around as a mass of revelers swelled. From within the crowd came calls to “push, push” and a big shove, according to witnesses. Then, they began to fall.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Captante]

I've been in 2 rushing-the-field events after college football game, and pretty quickly realized how bad it can get when you lose agency over where you want to be.

I have no interest in being in such a crowd situation after that.

I had a similar experience the one time I made the mistake of going to Times Square on New Years eve MANY years ago.

It's no fun moving large distances without your feet even touching the ground!

 

[Muse]

I've been in 2 rushing-the-field events after college football game, and pretty quickly realized how bad it can get when you lose agency over where you want to be.

I have no interest in being in such a crowd situation after that.

I have never been in such a situation IIRC. The nearest thing was a bunch of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festivals, but those are outdoors in a sprawling very large park and I never had a sense that there was any danger. The last one I went to (before pandemic) there was a well-armed presence of law enforcement (not just holstered pistols... it was after the Las Vegas music festival slaughter and I was not shocked to see a not conspicuous presence suggesting that there was awareness that planned heinous malice was conceivable).

ALWAYS know where the exits are and ALWAYS make an effort to maintain "situational awareness".... it can save your life.

I have on a number of occasions thought to identify EXITS (for whatever reasons)!

 

[Muse]

Crowd crush:
Crowd collapses and crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When a body of people reaches or exceeds the density of four to five people per square metre (0.37 to 0.46/sq ft), the pressure on each individual can cause the crowd to collapse in on itself, or become so densely packed that individuals are crushed and asphyxiated. At this density, too, a crowd can start to act like a fluid, sweeping individuals around without their volition.

That description can be felt (by me, anyway).

 

[Moonbeam]

From the lead NY Times article right now:

A ‘Sea of Bodies’: How a Festive Night in Seoul Turned Deadly (Published 2022)

There were few police officers around as a mass of revelers swelled. From within the crowd came calls to “push, push” and a big shove, according to witnesses. Then, they began to fall.

www.nytimes.com

No need to lose faith in humanity when you know that self hate is an unnecessary disease. The greater the self hate, the greater the self absorbency and the less the capacity to feel compassion for other people. The reason people can continue a celebration next to the dead is because the people who can do that are inwardly dead themselves.