"I Think I'm Going to Be Crushed," Zero Dispatches Despite 11 Emergency Calls

[Anchor]

Tomorrow marks the fourth anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush. The special investigation committee has pointed out total negligence and poor response, revealing that although 11 emergency calls were made on the night of the disaster reporting fears of a crush, the police did not dispatch a single time. The committee plans to directly investigate former President Yoon Suk Yeol at the detention center.

Reporter Park Se-won has the details.

[Reporter]

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

Releasing its interim investigation results four years after the accident, the Special Investigation Commission first highlighted the police's poor on-site management.

At the time, 120 police officers were deployed to the area, of which 49 were narcotics detectives, and not a single riot police unit was assigned to manage the crowds.

It was also found that a total of 11 emergency calls, including the first call stating, "I think I'm going to be crushed," came in that night, but officers were not dispatched even once.

This directly contradicts previous police claims that they were dispatched to the scene in 4 cases.

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

The fire department activated its emergency rescue control center 58 minutes after the first call, and a Yongsan-gu official arrived at the scene an hour after the disaster occurred while removing promotional flyers.

The committee noted that there were also gaps in judgment and command by competent ministries.

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

Furthermore, it was found that during the first meeting, then-Interior Minister Lee Sang-min decided to change the terminology from "disaster" to "accident," and "victims" to "the deceased," out of concern that the state might be held accountable.

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

When members of the investigation committee did not take questions, bereaved families protested the proceedings.

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

The committee stated that uncovering additional facts and summoning key responsible parties for questioning remain as tasks ahead.

The special committee, whose activities run until September of next year, plans to pursue visiting investigations at the detention center for former President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Minister Lee.

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