SEOUL: Party-goers in costumes fleeing in panic, desperate attempts at first aid on the sidewalks, scores of bodies lined up under makeshift shrouds: in Seoul’s lively Itaewon district, a Halloween festival turned to tragedy Saturday.

More than 150 people — mostly in their teens and 20s — were killed in a crowd surge and stampede, the cause of which is still unclear, in this popular, cosmopolitan district of the South Korean capital, located close to a former US military base and renowned for its bars and clubs.

Tens of thousands of people, many wearing elaborate Halloween costumes, had descended upon the district Saturday night, for the first major Halloween celebration since South Korea lifted most Covid-19 restrictions.

“My friend said: something terrible is happening outside,” said Jeon Ga-eul, 30, who was having a drink at a bar at the moment the stampede hit.

“I said: what are you talking about? And then I went outside to see and there were people doing CPR in the street.”

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The district, which was immortalised by the popular 2020 K-Drama hit Itaewon Class, is a warren of steeply sloping, twisted alleyways on either side of the main road.

The crowd was exceptionally dense on Saturday night, eyewitnesses told AFP, with Jeon saying that even ahead of the disaster, he had felt unsafe.