"We Might Be Crushed to Death": 11 Emergency Calls Made, but Zero Dispatches

[Anchor]

Two days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush, the special investigation committee has released its interim findings. Despite 11 emergency calls made on the day of the disaster, it was revealed that police failed to dispatch officers even once, contradicting prior police claims.

Reporter Park Se-won has the details.

[Reporter]

The Itaewon crowd crush occurred during Halloween celebrations in Seoul in October 2022, resulting in 159 deaths.

Releasing its interim investigation results four years after the disaster, the special investigation committee first pointed out the police's poor on-site management.

At the time, 120 police officers were deployed to the area, but 49 of them were narcotics detectives, and there was not a single mobile police unit deployed for crowd control.

It was also found that a total of 11 emergency calls—starting with the first report received that night warning, "We might be crushed to death"—did not result in a single police dispatch.

This directly contradicts previous police claims that four of the calls had resulted in responses at the scene.

[Wi Eun-jin / Standing Commissioner of the Special Investigation Commission on the Itaewon Disaster : The committee concluded that there is a possibility some victims could have been saved if rescue and emergency medical operations had been properly carried out.]

The fire department activated its emergency rescue control center 58 minutes after the first call, and an official in charge from Yongsan District arrived at the scene an hour after the disaster occurred while removing promotional leaflets.

The committee pointed out that there were also gaps in judgment and command within the competent ministries.

It took 43 minutes for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to recognize the situation and make its first report to the minister, and the initial meeting was held at 10:00 AM the day after the disaster.

Furthermore, it was found that during the first meeting, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min expressed concern that the state could be held accountable, leading to a decision to change terminology from "disaster" to "accident" and to refer to victims as "the deceased."

[Lee Sang-min / Former Minister of the Interior and Safety (Oct. 30, 2022) : We understand that this was not a problem that could have been resolved by deploying police or fire personnel in advance, unlike usual cases.]

As the committee members did not take questions, bereaved family members protested the format of the briefing.

[You said you would be transparent, and now the commissioners are just leaving?]

The committee stated that uncovering additional facts and summoning key responsible figures for questioning remain tasks to be completed.

The special committee, whose activities run until September next year, plans to push for prison-visit investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Minister Lee.

(Camera: Joo Yong-jin | Video Editing: Yoon Tae-ho | Design: Seo Hyun-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.