Crowd Crush

choi

(1) Halloween (always Oct 31) this year falls on Monday. The Seoul "stampede" occurred on Saturday, Oct 29, 2022. The day it happened, a new en.wikipedia.org page (per "View history" tab in the right upper corner)was created, titled
crowd collapses and crushes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_collapses_and_crushes
(section 3 Crowd collapses: "A crowd collapse occurs when a crowd is so dense that each individual is touching others all around, and is to an extent supported by those around. This can occur whether the crowd is moving or stationary. If a person then falls, the support to those around is lost, while the pressure from those further out remains, causing people to fall into the void. This process is then repeated, causing a bigger void, and will progress until the pressure eases; meanwhile, those who have fallen are at risk of being smothered by the weight of bodies on top, or be trampled as the crowd is swept over them. An example of a progressive crowd collapse was the 2015 Mina stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the Hajj when over 2,400 people were reported to have died")

What happened in Seoul is crowd crush (not collapse), according to the survivor's account. Wiki also has a page for stampede -- involving animals ONLY (no humans).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stampede

(2) Itaewon Crush: First Emergency Call Came Hours Before Crush. BBC, Nov 1, 2022 (it is 7 pm EST, and Google labeled this news '10 hours ago').
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63467204


(3) Choe Sang-Hun, '绝对可以避免'？首尔梨泰院踩踏事件谁之过. 纽约时报中文网, Nov 22, 2022
https://cn.nytimes.com/world/202 ... owd-accountability/

, was translated from

Choe Sang-Hun, Few Officers and No Crowd Control Plan on Night 150 Died in Seoul. New York Times, Nov 1, 2022, at page A4.

Quote:

"Saturday night, when tens of thousands of boisterous young Koreans, freed at last of pandemic restrictions, surged into a Seoul nightlife neighborhood to celebrate Halloween.

"the gathering in Itaewon was spontaneous. There were no sponsors or organizers, who are required by law to discuss safety measures with the police when they host large events that need traffic and crowd control.

"a well-known choke point near a busy subway station exit [Itaewon Station 梨泰院驛
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itaewon_Station
Exit No 1] and a tight alleyway known for its high foot traffic. * * * Subway Exit No 1 disgorges hordes of passengers all at once. Many head straight to a nearby 10-foot-wide, 130-foot-long, sloping alleyway because it is a shortcut to the area's hip bars, restaurants and nightclubs. * * * On one side [of the alleyway] was a line of bars and shops already packed with people who were unable to make room. On the other was the tall wall of the Hamilton Hotel.  Waves of people pushed up and down the slope, jostling to go in opposite directions, while music blaring from bars and clubs drowned out cries for help from those who were suffocating.