Two American university students, both 20 years old, were part of the 153 people who died in a stampede during the Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Korea.
Anne Gieske, who was a third-year nursing student at the University of Kentucky, was one of the the victims, as well as Steven Blesi, from Georgia, who was studying at Hanyang University in Seoul.
“I sent him a text message maybe half an hour before everything happened, and I said, ‘I know you’re away from home. Take care of yourself,” Blesi’s father, aged 62, told the New York Times. “I never got an answer to that.”
While desperate to communicate with his son on Saturday night, he received a call from the United States Embassy in South Korea, in which they confirmed that Steve had died during the Halloween celebration in the capital’s Itaewon district.
“It was as if you were stabbed 100 millions of times simultaneously”, lamented Blesi. “It was like your world came crashing down. It was numbing and devastating, all at the same time.”
For her part, Gieske, who was studying in South Korea through an overseas education program, also attended the party, somewhat which was confirmed by the president of the University of Kensucky, Eli Capilouto, in a statement on Sunday.
“We have We have been in contact with Anne’s family and we will provide all the support we can, now and in these days, as they face this unspeakable loss,” Capilouto said.
South Korean officials reported Sunday that among the victims , 26 were foreigners, including at least two Americans, with more than 80% of deceased with ages between 20 and 30 years, and four adolescents were registered. 80 of the dead were women and 56 men.
With information from the New York Post