KUALA LUMPUR: South Korea actor Yoon Hong-bin who witnessed the recent Halloween crush that killed close to 200 people at the Itaewon district in Seoul said that he had noticed signs that something was about to go really wrong before the incident took place.
In a now deleted post on social media, the My Love, My Family actor who was in a bar in the vicinity at the time said: "I went to Itaewon with the thought of enjoying Halloween at Itaewon for the first time in my life, and yesterday I experienced a disaster right in front of my eyes."
"During the commotion, I heard people screaming to not push each other and the police were only located at the main road.
"When I went out on the street to smoke, I saw people being rushed into ambulances and some victims were also laid down on the street so that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) could be performed on them," he said.
The 28-year-old artiste added that he had also administered CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on an injured party goer for 20 minutes, while his girlfriend massaged the victim's arms and legs.
He explained that people were crying and pleading for the victims to regain consciousness but noticed that only one person in the area had recovered.
Unfortunately, the person he was helping could not be saved in the end.
Yoon expressed his sadness and said that the tragedy was preventable and that there were early signs but not an adequate amount of police personnel in the critical areas to guide the revellers.
The Halloween-themed event that took place on Saturday was the first non-masked event after close to three years of pandemic restrictions which drew a huge crowd of partygoers.
But things took a deadly turn after the surging crowd in Itaewon found themselves trapped in a narrow and sloping alleyway which resulted in many being crushed.
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol has since declared a period of national mourning until Nov 5, with many upcoming popular events and TV shows postponed or cancelled.