ⓒ JoongAng Ilbo / JoongAng Ilbo Japanese version2022.11.01 06:37
A friend of a victim from Australia lamented that it was a tragedy caused by no countermeasures in connection with the Itaewon, South Korea crushing accident.
On the 31st, local media such as Australia’s “9News” reported that Nathan Taverniti, a friend of Australian victim Grace Rached (23), posted a video on the short movie sharing platform “TikTok” at the time. said to have explained the situation.
Prior to the accident, Tavernity released a selfie taken with a friend dressed up and said, “I visited Itaewon ahead of Grace’s 24th birthday.”
He then burst into tears, saying, “I was with Grace when she said she couldn’t breathe, and I held the hand of one of my friends.”
Tavernity said of the three friends who went with him, “Two became seriously ill and one died.” He then pointed out that “lack of preventive measures was the cause of the disaster.”
“The police and ambulance services were understaffed,” Tavernity said. “Nobody tried to help. I saw people filming the scene of the accident and singing and laughing while my friend was dying. I was watching him for a long time,” he told the situation at the time.
He continued, “We yelled at people, ‘Get back!’ But no one listened and people died.” It took an hour for people to be brought in and even longer for rescuers to arrive.There were people lying on the ground receiving CPR[cardiopulmonary resuscitation]from non-professional laymen.” did.
He also described the victims as “those abandoned by the government,” and emphasized, “If so many people were expected to gather, why didn’t they prepare?”
On the other hand, Australian local media expressed condolences by saying that Rechad was like an “angel with a bright smile” who worked at a film production company through an interview with the family of the deceased.
The Korea Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced that a total of 303 people were killed in the Itaewon crushing accident as of 6 am on this day. The accident killed 154 people and injured 149, including three seriously injured.
Of the dead, 26 are foreigners. The nationalities of the dead are five from Iran, four each from China and Russia, two each from the United States and Japan, and one each from France, Australia, Norway, Austria, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka.