Death toll of Halloween stampede in Seoul rises to 154, including 4 Chinese

"People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in others screaming and falling down like dominoes," an unidentified witness said in a social media post.

"I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realizing that there were people falling down at the start of the stampede," the survivor wrote.

An estimated 100,000 people have gathered at Itaewon for the country's biggest no-mask outdoor Halloween event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The country has lifted all anti-virus measures, except for an indoor mask mandate, since April.

Most of the victims were those in their late teens and 20s. Among the dead, 97 were women who are relatively not strong enough to bear the crush.

Because of the massive gatherings, the police and rescuers had difficulty approaching the scene.

The high death toll was also caused by the lack of paramedics required to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) one on one for those suffering cardiac arrest and breathing difficulties.

According to some local media, the stampede occurred when some people were rushing to a bar where an unidentified celebrity visited, but it was not confirmed yet. The exact cause of the incident was under investigation.