At least 146 people were killed in South Korea during a stampede.
According to a report by the International Business Times, the tragedy occurred when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween crammed into an alley in a nightlife area of the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday night.
Halloween is an annual celebration, observed in many countries on 31 October.
According to the report, another 150 people were injured in the crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district, Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said in a briefing at the scene.
Many of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the report said.
The incident took place at about 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT). A large number of people fell down in the alley during the festivities, Choi said. Many of the party-goers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.
Many of the victims were women in their 20s.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes moments before the stampede, with the police on hand in anticipation of the Halloween event at times having trouble maintaining control of the crowds.
Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.
One woman heard on a social media post cries out in English: “Oh my God, oh my God, Jesus fucking Christ.”
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Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire officials and citizens treating dozens of people who appeared to be unconscious.
A Reuters witness said a make-shift morgue was set up in a building adjacent to the scene. About four dozen bodies were carried out later on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according to the witness.
It was the first Halloween event in three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing. Some witnesses described the crowd becoming increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening deepened.
The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.
“You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks…but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that,” Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.
Curfew on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.