Three days after the tragedy that killed 156 people and injured 151 on Halloween in South Korea, the gymnasium that had become a makeshift morgue now looks like a lost and found section with the victims’ belongings.
There are at least 256 pairs of shoes, 258 pieces of clothing, 124 bags and 156 electronic devices, such as watches and headphones. There are also glasses, key chains, stuffed animals, masks and costumes used at Halloween parties. All objects are organized and classified, but only a small part has identified owners. Cell phones and documents are stored in police stations.
The silence in the Wonhyoro gym contrasts with the dynamism of the Itaewon district in Seoul, known for its intense nightlife and cosmopolitan character, with the presence of many tourists and foreigners.
It also reflects the mourning and bewilderment of South Koreans in the face of the tragedy in which hundreds of victims, mostly young people, died or were injured after the riot in an alley about three meters wide – a “tsunami of people”, as described by a witness to the Sheet.
A survivor with her leg in a cast walked through the gym this Tuesday (1st) looking for her bag, but did not find it. Without identifying herself, she told the Reuters news agency that she only came out alive because her upper body was not pressed against the alley walls.
According to police officers interviewed by Reuters, few people have gone to the gym to collect their belongings, so the objects constitute a kind of memorial, albeit unofficial, like those that accumulate candles, letters, flowers and messages of solidarity in others. Seoul points.
On Tuesday, the South Korean police commander admitted that agents had received warnings about the dangers of crowding in Itaewon. “A crowd was gathered even before the accident, which indicated danger, but the use [que fizemos] this information was insufficient,” said Yoon Hee-keun.
Some of the calls to the police were made four hours before the tragedy. “There’s a lot of people going up and down this alley. I’m very nervous. I think some people might get crushed. I barely escaped, but there’s a lot of people. I think you need to intervene,” reads the transcript of one of the calls. obtained by The Washington Post newspaper.
South Korea had a good record of crowd control. In protests, it is common for the police contingent to exceed the number of protesters. According to the local press, however, last Saturday there was a reversal of priorities.
Police sent 137 officers to Itaewon – where there were more than 100,000 people, according to estimates – and 6,500 to another point in Seoul where 25,000 people were taking part in a protest.
Interior Minister Lee Sang-min was the first high-ranking official to apologize for the tragedy. “I would like to express my sincere apologies to the people, as the minister responsible for the safety of the population, for this accident,” he said in a speech to the Chamber of Deputies.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon cried during a news conference and said the government would put all available resources “until citizens can return to their normal lives”.
President Yoon Suk-yeol did not apologize, but acknowledged that the country needs to improve its response to crowds. He decreed national mourning, promised rigorous investigations and measures to prevent similar tragedies. He also called for the creation of a “state-of-the-art” system to help with the task – although critics say Korea already has the resources to do so, they were not used in Itaewon.
Seoul Prefecture has a system that monitors crowds in real time by collecting data from smartphones, in order to anticipate the formation of agglomerations. The local press points out, however, that the model was not applied on Saturday. The perception, therefore, is that the tragedy could have been avoided.
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