South Korea police admit crowd surge response was 'insufficient'

An estimated 100,000 people had flocked to the area, but because it was not an "official" event with a designated organiser, neither the police nor local authorities were actively managing the crowd

South Korean police admitted Tuesday their emergency response to a deadly Halloween crush had been "insufficient", with top officials saying crowd management failures had likely contributed to the disaster.

At least 156 mostly young people were killed, and scores more injured, in a deadly crowd surge late Saturday at the first post-pandemic Halloween party in Seoul's popular Itaewon nightlife district.

An estimated 100,000 people had flocked to the area, but because it was not an "official" event with a designated organiser, neither the police nor local authorities were actively managing the crowd.

"There were multiple reports to the police indicating the seriousness at the site just before the accident occurred," national police chief Yoon Hee-keun said.

Police knew "a large crowd had gathered even before the accident occurred, urgently indicating the danger," he said, acknowledging the way this information was handled had been "insufficient".

Transcripts of emergency calls reported by South Korean news agency News1 documented how desperate members of the public had flagged dangerous overcrowding hours before disaster struck at around 10:00 pm local time (1300 GMT) Saturday.