Survivor shows extremely serious bruising to legs

A survivor of the Itaewon disaster shared photos of his bruised legs on Bobaedream, a local internet community. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A survivor of the Itaewon disaster wrote about the ordeal in a post online and shared photos of severely bruised legs.

“I survived the accident, but I feel so sorry and depressed as so many people were crushed to death,” a person of unknown gender wrote in a post in Korean on Bobaedream, a local online community, on Monday.

They posted three pictures of bruised legs, saying “I’ll add some photos of myself to let you know how intense the crushing pressure was.”

Both of legs had severe purple bruises from the thighs to ankles.

“I didn’t fall down so no one stepped on me,” the writer wrote. “These (bruises) are purely from the crushing pressure from front and back and both sides while standing in the crowd.”

The writer said they uploaded the pictures to show the public “how painful it was to be one of the crowd so nobody blames the victims anymore.”

They added that they were “so sorry I couldn’t do anything” saying they were too “overwhelmed with fear” to do anything at the time.

“As a person rescued from the scene, I can definitely say that the police officers and the emergency service personnel had done everything they could,” the survivor wrote. “I would like to extend my gratitude once again.”

Choi Seok-jae, an emergency medicine specialist and a public relations director at the Korean Emergency Medical Association (KEMA), said the writer seems to be experiencing “a failure in venous return caused by severe pressure."

“Crushing pressure can be a direct cause of the severe bruises,” Choi said. “But in this case it could be a traumatic injury caused by extreme pressure on the abdominal region, which blocks blood from circulating.”

He explained that “considering the range of the damage on the legs, not only the veins but muscles are likely to have been affected” and warned that “some swelling or even bleeding can occur after some time.”

Choi advised that if the bruises get worse, immediate hospitalization is needed.

BY HAN JEE-HYE, HAN HYE-RIM [han.hyerim1@joongang.co.kr]