Dear MEL Topic Readers,
‘Reminders everywhere’: Halloween crush haunts survivors one year after
Itaewon crowd disaster
Halloween is celebrated in many countries on October 31, the eve of the
Western Christian feast of All Saints’ Day. These days, however, it is rather a
secular event where people celebrate for fun with Trick-or-treating, Jack-o’-lanterns,
and scary costumes. Halloween is also celebrated by young people who disguise
themselves, gather, and party in many countries including Japan, China, and
South Korea. On October 29 last year, a large crowd was crushed in a narrow
alleyway in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea during Halloween
festivities, killing 159 young people and injuring about 200. Witnesses said
that the crowd became increasingly dense and difficult to move through and that
people began to fall and be trampled. Emergency responders struggled to reach
the injured due to the size of the crowd. A year from now, those who survived
and witnessed the crush and the families of the victims still suffer from the nightmare.
Now, local governments of popular party districts in these countries are
stepping up measures to prevent such tragedies from happening.
Read the article and learn about the nightmare of Halloween.
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