Current:Home > FinanceSeoul police chief indicted over 2022 Halloween crush that killed more than 150 people-InfoLens
Seoul police chief indicted over 2022 Halloween crush that killed more than 150 people
View Date:2024-12-23 16:22:12
South Korean prosecutors indicted the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for the 2022 Halloween crush that killed more than 150 people, Reuters News Agency reported. Seoul police chief Kim Kwang-ho was charged with contributing through negligence to the harrowing incident that also injured 133 people, according to the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office.
The charges came more than a year after the incident in which celebrants enjoying Halloween in Seoul became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley in the capital's leisure district of Itaewon. More than two-thirds of the people killed were young people or women.
Police launched an investigation right after the incident, deploying a 475-person task force to determine the cause of the disaster. Investigators combed through security camera video and interviewed witnesses to determine how so many people lost their lives so quickly.
There were 137 police officers deployed that night to control the crowds in the central Seoul district amid the Halloween festivities. It was estimated that more than 100,000 people attended the celebrations.
At least 20 of the dead were foreigners from China, Russia, Iran and elsewhere. Two American college students were among the dead, the U.S. State Department said. The University of Kentucky said that junior nursing student Anne Gieske had been killed. Kennesaw State University student Steven Blesi, an international business major, was also among those who died, the school said.
President Biden tweeted at the time that he and first lady Jill Biden were "devastated to learn that at least two Americans are among so many who lost their lives in Seoul."
- In:
- South Korea
- Halloween
veryGood! (581)
Related
- Amazon's 'Cross' almost gets James Patterson detective right: Review
- Taylor Swift Shades Kim Kardashian on The Tortured Poets Department’s “thanK you aIMee”
- Ex-Philadelphia police officer pleads guilty in shooting death of 12-year-old boy
- Read Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks' prologue, epilogue to 'The Tortured Poets Department'
- FBI offers up to $25,000 reward for information about suspect behind Northwest ballot box fires
- Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department: Who Is Clara Bow?
- Is the US banning TikTok? What a TikTok ban would mean for you.
- Taylor Swift's collab with Florence + The Machine 'Florida!!!' is 'one hell of a drug'
- Sofia Richie Reveals 5-Month-Old Daughter Eloise Has a Real Phone
- Video of 2 bear cubs pulled from trees prompts North Carolina wildlife investigation but no charges
Ranking
- Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn Coming Out of Retirement at 40
- 4 suspects in murder of Kansas moms denied bond
- BNSF Railway says it didn’t know about asbestos that’s killed hundreds in Montana town
- Tori Spelling reveals she tried Ozempic, Mounjaro after birth of fifth child
- Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election
- Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department: Who Is Clara Bow?
- BP defeated thousands of suits by sick Gulf spill cleanup workers. But not one by a boat captain
- Scotland halts prescription of puberty blocking hormones for minors as gender identity service faces scrutiny
Recommendation
-
Maine elections chief who drew Trump’s ire narrates House tabulations in livestream
-
Taylor Swift name-drops Patti Smith and Dylan Thomas on new song. Here’s why
-
National Guard delays Alaska staffing changes that threatened national security, civilian rescues
-
25 years ago, the trauma of Columbine was 'seared into us.' It’s still 'an open wound'
-
Eva Longoria Shares She and Her Family Have Moved Out of the United States
-
Tori Spelling Calls Out Andy Cohen for Not Casting Her on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
-
Not a toddler, not a parent, but still love ‘Bluey’? You’re not alone
-
Crews turn sights to removing debris from ship’s deck in Baltimore bridge collapse cleanup