Families of foreign Itaewon victims say footage from final moments shows police absence
Families of foreign victims of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush watched second-by-second footage of their loved ones’ final moments and said the recordings showed too few police officers at the scene and a rescue response that came too late. “Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I watched my sister’s final moments, where she walked and how she died,” Damira Sherniyazova, who traveled from…
The families of foreign victims who perished in the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush viewed second-by-second footage of their loved ones' final moments, expressing concern over the limited presence of police officers on the scene and the delayed rescue response. Damira Sherniyazova, who traveled from Kazakhstan to attend a press conference in Seoul, shared her emotional ordeal of watching her sister, Madina, walk and ultimately succumb to death in the narrow Seoul alley four years ago.
Tragically, the crowd crush resulted in the deaths of 159 people, including 26 foreign nationals. A total of 35 members from 18 families hailing from 10 countries arrived in South Korea at the government's invitation starting Friday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the catastrophe. A special investigation commission, holding closed-door meetings with individual families on Wednesday, presented footage depicting each victim's movements leading up to the disaster, their final moments, and rescue attempts.
The footage was compiled from approximately 1,000 videos gathered by the commission, encompassing CCTV footage and firefighters' body camera recordings.
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