Itaewon Survivors Share Harrowing Accounts: It 'Happened in a Moment'

Survivors of the deadly stampede during Halloween festivities in South Korea on Saturday night are sharing their accounts of what happened.

"Last night, there were a lot of people here. People didn't know what to do. Police came, they took people down and many people were doing resuscitation on those on the ground. Everything happened in a moment," 31-year-old Abdo Al-Kader told The Korea Times on Sunday.

As of Sunday afternoon, at least 154 people have reportedly died while 133 others have been injured, according to South Korean media reports. The crowd crush led to dozens of people going into cardiac arrest in Seoul's crowded Itaewon nightlife district near the Hamilton Hotel.

"I was there maybe 9 to 10 p.m. at Itaewon Station. It was extremely crowded. From the corner of the alley, we saw that many people were trying to get out of there. It was so heartbreaking," Beta Bayusantika told the newspaper. "I heard people saying 'Help! Help! Help!' in Korean."

Police estimate that around 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon to celebrate the holiday, according to The Korea Herald. Meanwhile, the Hannam-dong Community Center reported 4,024 missing people as of Sunday at 5 p.m. Seoul time.

Foreign nationals were also among the victims, including two Americans. A U.S. State Department official confirmed to Newsweek on Sunday that they were "killed in the tragedy in Itaewon."

"Our staff in Seoul and colleagues in the United States are working tirelessly to provide consular assistance to the victims of last night's incident and their families," the official told Newsweek in an email. "The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is working closely with local authorities and other partner organizations to assist U.S. citizens affected. We offer our sincerest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and continue to assist the injured."

The victims who died include 26 foreigners who came from the United States, Kazakhstan, Iran, China, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Russia, France, Vietnam, Norway, Thailand and Austria, according to The Korea Times. Those injured included 15 foreign nationals.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Osman Karakan told The Korea Times that he saw dead people lying in the street and others who were trying to help those who became unconscious during the chaos.

"I was here with my friends from around 9 p.m. The alley was so crowded that we thought it could be dangerous, so we took shelter at a club nearby. When we got out of there around 10:30 p.m., dead people were lying in the street and many people were doing CPR on them," said Karakan, who was later asked by the club owner to help move bodies in the street.

Sonali Madane recalled how rumors spread as people were trying to understand the cause of the stampede, with some saying that "some celebrity" was coming, while others wondered whether or not there was an explosion or a bomb.

Karakan and Al-Kader pointed out that the crowd surge happened due to the lack of police, adding that officers could have directed crowds to control the situation.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Marwan said three of his friends died, according to The Korea Herald, adding, "I used to hang out with them every weekend in Itaewon and now they're dead. There were no bodyguards or owners trying to stop the situation."

Police said that the Soonchunhyang University Hospital, which took many of the victims, ran out of space and had to send some of them away, The Korea Herald reported in another article.

"Following the president's directive, the government has decided to observe a national mourning period until midnight of Nov. 5, during which the nation will mourn the perished," South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, according to The Korea Herald. During the mourning period, all government offices and overseas missions will lower their flags to half-staff and cancel or postpone nonessential public events.

Newsweek reached out to South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety for comment.