Questions raised about lax crowd control as South Koreans mourn crowd crush tragedy - The Straits Times

SEOUL - As South Koreans mourn the death of 155 people in an unprecedented crowd crush at Seoul’s nightlife district Itaewon during the Halloween festivities, questions are being raised about poor crowd management and insufficient police deployment, which may have contributed to the disaster.

Some 10,000 people visited memorial sites set up all over the country to pay respects to the victims on Monday, most of them in their 20s and 30s.

Hundreds of revellers got stuck in an entangled pile last Saturday when crowds moving in opposite directions converged in a narrow downhill alley next to the iconic Hamilton Hotel, causing some to fall and trigger a domino effect.

Many of those who were caught at the bottom died of asphyxia or cardiac arrest.

The death toll, which includes 26 foreigners from Iran, China and Russia, is expected to rise as 30 people are seriously injured. Another 122 people sustained minor injuries.

Addressing concerns raised about lax crowd control, President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered the government to come up with a crowd management system for similar events that draw huge crowds.

The President, who visited a memorial at Seoul Plaza on Monday, “feels an indescribable sadness and responsibility for the people’s lives and safety when he thinks of the victims and their families”, according to his spokesman.

Mr Yoon also stressed the importance of a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and revealing the real cause of the tragedy, which he said will help the government to prepare a safety management system to prevent crowd accidents in future.

Itaewon is known to draw a surge of revellers over Halloween, Christmas, long weekends, and the annual Itaewon Global Village Festival.

Only the Global Village Festival is subject to safety measures for big crowds imposed by the government, as it is organised by the Yongsan District Office which oversees Itaewon. Roads are also closed to make way for performances and food and cultural stalls.

Safety measures for such festivals were reportedly strengthened in the wake of a pop concert stampede in southern city Sangju that killed 11 people and injured about 60 others in 2005.

But the rules do not apply to Halloween or Christmas parties where there is no central organiser. Crowd control is left to individual businesses, some of whom hire bouncers to keep queues in order.

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2022-10-31 16:09:46Z
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Arrests after India bridge collapse kills more than 130 - CNA

"NO CERTIFICATE"

Authorities launched a rescue operation immediately following the collapse, with boats and divers searching the river all night and throughout Monday.

The bridge, 233m long and 1.5m wide, was inaugurated in 1880 by British colonial authorities and made with materials shipped from England, reports said.

The Gujarat tourist department describes the "grand suspension bridge" about 200km west of the state's main city, Ahmedabad, as an "artistic and technological marvel".

Sandeepsinh Jhala, Morbi municipality's chief officer, said the bridge had not been issued a safety certificate after the recent repair work.

Reports named the firm that carried out the repairs as a unit of the Gujarat-based Oreva group, which describes itself as the world's largest clock manufacturer, and also makes lighting products and e-bikes. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Modi, who was due to visit the site on Tuesday, said that he "may rarely have experienced so much pain in my life".

Moscow and New Delhi have enjoyed close relations for decades and the Kremlin said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was "deeply saddened" while Nepal, Bhutan, Britain and France also sent messages of support.

Accidents from old and poorly maintained infrastructure, including bridges, are common in India.

In 2016, the collapse of a flyover onto a busy street in Kolkata killed at least 26 people.

Five years earlier, at least 32 people perished when a packed bridge collapsed in the hill resort of Darjeeling.

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2022-10-31 14:24:00Z
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Mask-wearing now 'highly encouraged' in Malaysia amid rise in cases: Khairy - CNA

Mr Khairy said that there was a 16.5 per cent increase in the number of cases between Oct 23 and Oct 29, compared to the corresponding period a week before. He said that the XBB Omicron subvariant is believed to be responsible for the rise in cases.  

He added that there was an increase of 14 per cent in the number of patients who were admitted to public hospitals, although most of them had mild symptoms.

“This variant spreads more easily compared to other Omicron subvariants and is expected to be the dominant subvariant replacing BA5 after this. However, there is no evidence that it causes more severe infections,” he said, adding that the situation is still under control.   

Mr Khairy also said that the Election Commission (EC) is expected to announce the standard operating procedures for the elections soon, including voting procedures for those who are positive for COVID-19.

Earlier, the health ministry had proposed two ways for the EC to allow COVID-19-positive individuals to vote in the elections. 

Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said one method was to provide a special lane and room for those infected with COVID-19 at each polling centre. The other option is for individuals to wear the necessary protective equipment before going to the polling station. 

Malaysia recorded 3,129 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the cumulative national tally to more than 4.9 million since the pandemic began.

Malaysia has reported 36,466 deaths due to the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

Last week, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that COVID-19 infections were the main cause of death in Malaysia in 2021.

It said that 30,063 deaths or 19.8 per cent of all deaths in Malaysia last year were caused by the virus.

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2022-10-31 09:21:00Z
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India bridge collapses, killing at least 132 people - CNA

AHMEDABAD: At least 132 people died in India when a colonial-era pedestrian bridge overloaded with religious revellers collapsed into the river below, police said on Monday (Oct 31).

Authorities said nearly 500 people were celebrating a religious festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge in Morbi when supporting cables snapped soon after dark on Sunday.

The structure in the western state of Gujarat crashed into the river, spilling scores of people into the water while others clung desperately to the wreckage shouting for help.

"I saw the bridge collapse before my eyes," one witness who worked all night trying to rescue people said, without giving his name.

"It was traumatic when a woman showed me a photo of her daughter and asked if I had rescued her. I could not tell her that her daughter had died."

Another witness named Supran told local media that the bridge was "jam-packed".

"The cables snapped and the bridge came down in a split second. People fell on each other and into the river," he said.

Ranjanbhai Patel, another Morbi resident, told local media of the difficulties he and others faced in their bid to help people to shore.

"We pulled out people who were able to swim ashore. As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them," he said.

Senior police official Ashok Kumar Yadav told AFP on Monday morning that the death toll now stood at 132. Sources said that most of the victims were women and children.

Around 15 others were being treated in hospital.

The bridge over the Machchhu river, a popular tourist spot, had only reopened several days earlier after months of repairs.

News reports showed footage of people clambering up the twisted remains of the bridge or trying to swim to safety in the dark.

P Dekavadiya, the head of police in Morbi, earlier told AFP by phone that more than 130 people had been rescued.

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2022-10-31 05:16:40Z
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'My heart is broken': South Koreans flock to memorials, mourn Halloween crowd surge victims - CNA

SEOUL: South Koreans flocked to memorials on Monday (Oct 31) honouring the more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge at Halloween celebrations, as authorities faced accusations that lax crowd control had caused the disaster.

Officials said the death toll had risen overnight to 154 with 149 injured, 33 of them in serious condition. Citizens from at least two dozen countries were among the dead.

Mourners wept, prayed and placed flowers at a huge official altar set up in central Seoul for victims - mostly young women - of the Saturday crush, with many railing against authorities' failures to prevent the catastropic loss of young life.

"I am devastated by what happened, they were just trying to have a good time," 19-year-old student Hwang Gyu-hyeon told AFP, weeping and struggling to speak clearly, as she explained how the deaths of so many people her own age had affected her.

"I pray for the victims. I can't believe this accident happened despite the signs that were clear beforehand. Nothing was done to prepare for this crowd," she said.

Song Jung-hee, 69, said she kept thinking about how "excited and spirited" the young victims must have been, eager to enjoy a night out without Covid restrictions for the first time in three years.

"If only there had been more police officers to keep order, this would not have happened," she told AFP.

At a makeshift memorial outside a subway station in the popular Itaewon nightlife district, where the tragedy occurred, dozens of mourners gathered, many wiping away tears as they placed white chrysanthemums and bottles of soju on the altar.

One sign left at the memorial said: "At an age when you all were all about to blossom like flowers ... My heart is broken. I pray all the souls will rest in peace in heaven."

CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

Calls for accountability were growing Monday in the press and online, as potential lapses of crowd control and policing emerged.

As many as 100,000 people - mostly in their teens and 20s, many wearing Halloween costumes - had poured into Itaewon's small, winding streets, with eyewitnesses describing scant security and no crowd control.

Police said at a briefing Monday they had deployed 137 officers to the event, pointing out that the number was significantly higher than previous years.

But local reports said many of the police deployed were focused on drug use, rather than crowd control.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Monday promised a thorough investigation.

"The government will undertake a thorough investigation into what caused this accident and do its best to make necessary institutional changes so that such an accident is not repeated," Han said as government officials met to discuss the disaster.

"Identification has been completed for all of the 154 deceased except one, and I believe it is time for follow-up measures such as funeral procedures to be carried out in earnest," Han said. "We will do our best to provide necessary support by reflecting the opinions of the bereaved families as much as possible."

Han said there were incidents of people propagating hate speech by blaming victims, as well as spreading false information and posting disturbing scenes of the incident online. A National Police Agency official said they were investigating six related cases.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has declared a period of national mourning and designated Itaewon a disaster zone, visited a memorial altar near the Seoul city hall and paid his respects to victims on Monday, his office said.

"This was a disaster that could have been controlled or prevented," Lee Young-ju, a professor from the Department of Fire and Disaster at the University of Seoul, told broadcaster YTN.

"But this was not taken care of, with no one taking the responsibility in the first place."

Online, claims also spread that police this year were not actively managing the crowd, which allowed too many people to congregate around the subway station and in the alleyway at the epicentre of the disaster.

"I've lived in Itaewon for 10 years and experienced Halloween every year but yesterday was by no means particularly crowded compared to previous years," Twitter user @isakchoi312 wrote.

"Ultimately, I think the cause of the disaster was crowd control."

On Sunday, the government had defended the policing plan.

"(The crush) was not a problem that could be solved by deploying police or firefighters in advance," Interior Minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing.

South Korea is typically strong on crowd control, with the country's regular protest rallies often so heavily policed that officers can outnumber participants.

Protest organisers must by law report plans to authorities in advance, but there were no such requirements for the young people flocking to the Itaewon Halloween event.

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2022-10-31 05:41:00Z
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More than 80 killed in India as packed suspension bridge collapses - The Straits Times

AHMEDABAD - At least 81 people were killed and dozens critically injured when a suspension bridge in India’s western Gujarat state collapsed on Sunday, a government minister said.

Indian media reported that children were among those killed.

Dr Atul Prajapati, a medical officer at the state hospital near the disaster site, said: “We have found 81 bodies and the final rites process has begun.”

Dozens of people were also injured, officials said.

More than 400 people were on and around the colonial-era suspension bridge at the time of the collapse. State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said more than 150 people were on the bridge over the Machhu River in the town of Morbi at the time of the collapse.

Indian news agency Press Trust of India, quoting unnamed officials, said the bridge collapsed as it could not bear the weight of the people standing on it.

Footage broadcast by the TV channel showed dozens of people clinging onto the cables of the collapsed bridge as emergency teams struggled to rescue them.

Some clambered up the broken structure to try to make their way to the river banks, while others swam to safety. A number of children were among the victims.

Mr Prateek Vasava, who swam to the river bank after falling from the bridge, told 24 Hours Gujarati-language news channel that he witnessed several children drop into the river.

“I wanted to pull some of them along with me but they had drowned or got swept away,” he said.

The bridge had collapsed in just a few seconds, he said.

Broadcaster NDTV reported that people also swam to safety, with parts of the bridge partially submerged in the river.

“Many people came here in view of Diwali holidays and weekend; it’s a tourist-friendly place. When it collapsed, people fell over each other,” an eyewitness told ANI.

The 230m-long historic bridge was built during British rule in the 19th century. It had been closed for renovation for six months and was reopened to the public last week.

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2022-10-30 15:25:00Z
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No reports of Singaporeans among the casualties in South Korea stampede: MFA - CNA

SINGAPORE: There are currently no reports of Singaporeans among the casualties in the stampede in Seoul, said Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Sunday (Oct 30) night.

At least 153 people were killed and dozens more injured in the Itaewon district of Seoul when a crowd surged in an alleyway during Halloween festivities on Saturday night. 

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday to convey his condolences.

In his letter, Mr Lee said he was deeply saddened to hear about the stampede.

"It is especially heart wrenching that many who died are young people," he added.

"On behalf of the Government of Singapore, I express my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims.

"Our thoughts are with the people of South Korea during this difficult time, and I wish all the injured a swift recovery."

MFA said that Singapore's Embassy in Seoul is in close contact with local authorities about the situation.

Singaporeans in Seoul who require consular assistance can contact the Singapore Embassy in Seoul at +82-10-7204-6240 or the MFA Duty Office at +65 6379 8800 / 8855.

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2022-10-30 13:57:00Z
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