'They missed an opportunity to take control of the crowd'

On Oct. 29, 156 people were killed in a deadly crowd crush in Itaewon, central Seoul.

It later emerged that at least 11 calls were made to the police before the tragedy reporting fears about overcrowding. The transcripts released by the National Police Agency on Tuesday show the urgent situation at the scene.

The first call was made at 6:34 p.m. by a person near the Hamilton Hotel alleyway where the crush took place. “No one is controlling the crowd,” said the initial caller, asking for the police to take immediate action.

The last call was made at 10:11 p.m., a few minutes before the disaster. People were screaming in the background.

Still, the police did not take any noticeable useful actions. They only told four of the callers that they would dispatch officers to investigate.

It took nearly two hours for the National Police Agency to receive an official report on the situation.

The National Office of Investigation under the police authority launched a special police investigation team to review the inaction. The team raided related places including the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Yongsan Police Station on Wednesday.

#what_if_they_had_responded?
“They missed an opportunity to take control of the crowd.”
“The police didn’t take any action, even though the people made calls for help. What’s the meaning of their existence? Why do we pay taxes?”

#lack_of_authority
“What were the Seoul mayor and head of Yongsan District Office doing?”
“The local authority should have deployed the personnel and taken control of the scene.”

#what's_the_point?
“There must be a number of officers in the police or local authorities who are in charge of safety measures. It was a mess.”
“The police didn’t take any action despite receiving calls from citizens. Is it okay to give them the authority to investigate and terminate investigation?”

BY KIM AH-YOUNG, BY HAN HYE-RIM [han.hyerim1@joongang.co.kr]