<Anchor>
The alley where this disaster occurred was 3m wide, so narrow that it was difficult for six or seven adults to stand side by side, and the road was steep.
It is analyzed that this structure led to a large-scale disaster.
This is reporter Yoo Soo-hwan.
<Reporter>
The point of the accident is the alley next to the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.
It is 3.2 m wide and 40 m long.
It is a road that connects Exit 1 of Itaewon Station on Subway Line 6 and World Food Street, where famous restaurants and clubs are concentrated.
At the time of the accident, the crowds coming down from the upper part of this narrow street overlapped with people trying to go up from Itaewon Station, leaving the alleyway with literally no space to step on.
Experts analyze that if the lower part of the downhill loses its center in a state of full of crowds, a chain of crushing accidents will occur in an instant, leading to great casualties.
[Lee Song-gyu / President of the Korea Safety Experts Association: When a certain force acts on an incline, it can accelerate very quickly.
When the force is concentrated at once.
However, in the case of the person holding on at the end, if it fails to hold out and collapses, it will continue to collapse...
.
]
The police also explained that the point where the most casualties occurred was at the bottom of the descent.
[Police official: (The place where many casualties occurred) is below the middle.
below the middle
The direct cause is that there are unconditionally too many people...
.]
The police secured CCTV footage from the alleyway and began to analyze it.
We are investigating the specific cause of the accident, such as the reason for the increase in casualties and the structure of the alleyway.