How the Seoul Halloween crowd crush happened

Authorities criticised after at least 154 people killed in stampede in South Korean capital

A woman reacts to the disaster in Itaewon in Seoul
Shocked bystanders at scene of the disaster in Itaewon in Seoul
(Image credit: Bert Retief/AFP via Getty Images)

The prime minister of South Korea has promised to launch a thorough investigation into the deadly stampede during Halloween festivities in Seoul on Saturday night.

Han Duck-soo said his government would make any “necessary changes” to prevent a repeat of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of at least 154 people, most of them teenagers or young adults.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.