South Korea Stampede: No Moroccan among victims

The Moroccan Embassy in South Korea said on Sunday that no Moroccan national was among the victims of the deadly stampede that took place Saturday evening in Seoul.

In the aftermath of the tragic stampede during Halloween celebrations in Seoul’s Itaewon district on Saturday night, which left more than 150 dead and dozens injured, the Moroccan embassy announced in a press release that no Moroccan is among the victims, and urged all members of the Moroccan community in Korea to be in constant contact with Korean authorities.

For any information, the embassy can be reached at the land phone number +82-2 792 7097, or cell phone number +8210-31537-7097, the press release said.

The stampede in an alley in the Itaewon district left 153 dead, while rescue and identification of victims continues.

According to the emergency services, the stampede that left 153 dead occurred when tens of thousands of people gathered in the Itaewon district on the occasion of Halloween. “Someone fell in the narrow alley setting off a stampede in the crowd and people piled on top of each other,” reports the South Korean news agency.

Among the 153 victims of this tragedy, 20 were identified as foreigners from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Sunday it had received about 355 missing person reports following the fatal stampede.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol who deplored “a tragedy and disaster that should not have happened” announced on Sunday the opening of a rigorous investigation to determine the causes of the disaster, one of the worst in recent Korean history.

Around 100,000 people, according to local media estimates, had come to Itaewon for this Halloween holiday, the first in the South Korean capital since the Covid-19 pandemic, during which large gatherings were banned.