Seoul pub owner describes giving life-saving CPR to people injured in crowd surge

The owner of a popular rooftop pub in the popular Itaewon district in Seoul, South Korea described giving CPR to people who were injured during a crowd surge over the weekend.

Tens of thousands had flocked to the district for the first unrestricted Halloween festivities since the start to the COVID pandemic. At least 154 people were killed after the crowd surged into a narrow, sloping alley that evening. Another 149 people are injured, with 33 in serious condition.

After witnessing the chaos from his bar, Park Keun-Ho, 59, told his staff to keep customers inside and ran to the scene to help. He started to perform CPR on a women, he said, and saved her life.

Officials are still investigating what led to the crowd surge, but safety experts say authorities could have prevented or at least reduced the surge.