The South Korean police chief acknowledged on Tuesday that officers had received multiple urgent reports of danger before the deadly crowd to celebrate Halloween, but his response was “insufficient”.
At least 156 people died, mostly young, and many more were injured on Saturday night in the popular Itaewon district of Seoul.
Police knew that “a large crowd had gathered even before the accident occurred, indicating the urgency of the danger” , but the use of that information was “insufficient”, recognized the national police chief Yoon Hee-keun.
Nail 100,000 people flocked to the area but, because they did not it was an “official” event with a designated organizer, there was no crowd management by the police or local authorities.
“Police received multiple reports indicating the severity at the site just prior to for the accident to happen”, added Yoon.
South Korea is usually efficient in controlling crowds and the protests usually have so much police presence, which exceeds the number of attendees.
Police said on Monday that they sent 137 officers to the site, while there were 6,500 officers at a protest on the other side of town with 25,000 protesters, according to local media.