Singer and actor Lee Jihan was among those who died in the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy in Seoul, South Korea. Two agencies representing the star, 935 Entertainment and 9Ato Entertainment, confirmed the news on Sunday. He was 24. Here’s what you need to know.
The star appeared on the popular boy band competition series Produce 101 in 2017 and starred in the Korean drama Today Was Another Namhyun Day in 2019. About 154 people were killed in a crowd surge at Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district on Saturday.
K-Pop Singer Among The Dead In Halloween Crowd Crush In Seoul
Tens of thousands of partygoers were packed into the downhill alleyway, no more than 10 feet wide, with eyewitnesses describing scenes of chaos as people pushed and shoved to get through, with no police in sight to guide or control the crowd.
Witnesses described being trapped in a narrow, sloping alleyway and scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd as people piled on top of one another. Most of the 154 dead, including 26 foreigners, had been identified Sunday, with the education ministry confirming Monday that at least six young teenagers were among the victims. But the toll could rise further with at least 33 people in critical condition, officials said.
There is speculation that women died in greater numbers because they are smaller and found it harder to muscle their way up to breathe or make their way out of the crowd. South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has promised a thorough investigation to “make necessary institutional changes so that such an accident is not repeated.”
Authorities have said they deployed more people this year than they did for pre-Covid parties, and that they had to redirect a considerable number of officers elsewhere in Seoul that night to handle potential protests.
As South Korea mourns, officials are facing tough questions about preparations for the celebrations and demands for accountability in the wake of the country’s worst disaster in nearly a decade. The national government has insisted there was no way to predict the crowd would get out of control.
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