Halloween Horror: The Tragic Crowd Crush in Seoul

Halloween is meant to be scary. It’s often filled with haunted houses and things that make you scream, but no one expects the horror to become a reality during their Halloween celebrations.

On October 30th, holiday preparations began for Halloween. Roughly 100,000 people gathered in Seoul, South Korea to celebrate the festive holiday. More people were gathered than ever before to celebrate Halloween and in addition to celebrate the end to strict COVID rules and guidelines in the country. At 10:20 pm, hundreds of people were jammed into an alleyway, causing a crowd crush. MSN defines the concept well and states, “A crowd crush is when people are packed in a confined space and keep pushing, causing the crowd to fall in a ‘domino effect’ making it hard for people to get up again. The bigger the crowd, the stronger the effect of the crowd crush is.” This tragedy caused over 150 people to die, and 150 more are injured with death rates expected to increase. Over 20 people who were killed were foreigners and the majority of the victims were in their twenties. 

Since the tragedy, many foreign leaders such as Joe Biden and others have given their condolences and support. The South Korean government is currently doing a full investigation of what happened, and will likely have more information shortly. The country also classified that area of Seoul as a “disaster zone.” The government and country will continue to find out more about the incident and honor those who lost their lives.