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In order to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again, it is necessary to accurately understand the situation at the time of the accident and think about countermeasures.
In the alleys of Itaewon, where there was no control two days ago, there were already many people complaining of difficulty breathing because they were pushed by the crowd even before someone fell and collapsed.
Reporter Seong-Hoon Lee reported.
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On the night of the 29th, in an alley in Itaewon, people complained of difficulty breathing even before the accident occurred.
The injured who escaped from the accident are also experiencing various kinds of pain due to physical pressure.
Thousands of people gathered at once in a narrow alley 3.2m wide and 40m long, and a strong force was applied in the horizontal direction.
In order to breathe, you have to move your chest and stomach, experts diagnose that 'compressive asphyxiation' may have occurred without leaving room for thoracic movements.
Some citizens took off their masks or sprayed water on each other's faces, but it was not enough to breathe properly.
[Gong Ha-seong/Professor of Fire and Disaster Prevention Department, Woosuk University: It seems to be such a dense space with about 10 people per square meter.
Compression of hundreds of kg to several tons is applied to the chest, causing lung damage and leading to cardiac arrest…
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There were more female victims than males, but because of their relatively small size and lack of muscle mass, it is likely that the chest and abdomen were more compressed.
[Witness: Most of the people who lose strength very quickly were women.
Because of their short stature, some people were buried and could not be seen.] As
compression suffocation occurs regardless of posture, it is important to control the number of people per unit area at events where large crowds gather.
However, there was no control over the number of people in Itaewon during the Halloween festival.
(Video coverage: Kim Hak-mo, Kim Seung-tae, video editing: Yoon Tae-ho)