By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s offered the country’s condolences to the people of South Korea, after a deadly stampede claimed the lives of at least 153 people in Seoul.
Crowds thronged the capital’s central district during Halloween celebrations.
Many ended up crammed into an alleyway – setting off panic.
Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying on the streets overnight after the crush in the capital’s nightlife Itaewon district.
Those killed or hurt were mostly teenagers and people in their twenties, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul‘s Yongsan fire department.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has since declared a period of national mourning following the untimely demise of more than 150 people in a stampede, with 82 injured.
South Korea’s government has since launched an investigation into one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years.
Ramaphosa said the people of South Africa join the people of South Korea in mourning the lives lost in the tragic incident.
“Ramaphosa wished all those injured speedy recoveries,” the President’s Office said on Sunday.
It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.
Ramaphosa has also sent messages of condolences to the Republic of India and the Federal Republic of Somalia following disasters that have led to the tragic deaths of scores of people in the two countries.
More than 140 people perished In India following the collapse of a bridge in the state of Gujarat during Diwali festivities.
Meanwhile in Somalia, an explosion in the capital Mogadishu claimed the lives of about 100 people, with scores of others reported injured.
“Ramaphosa said the thoughts of the people of South Africa are with the Indian and Somali families that have lost their loved ones. Ramaphosa wished all the injured speedy recoveries,” the Presidency said in a statement.