Seoul
CNN
—
A senior South Korean police inspector who was being investigated in reference to the lethal Halloween crowd crush in Seoul has been discovered useless in his residence.
The inspector was discovered lifeless by his household at round 12:45pm on Friday, in response to South Korean police.
The police stated they’re investigating the circumstances.
The information comes after investigators raided the places of work of the Yongsan district police station, which oversees the nightlife neighborhood of Itaewon, the place the crush came about.
In what was one of many nation’s worst disasters, 158 folks died after tens of 1000’s of costumed partygoers celebrating Halloween poured into the favored nightlife district, a lot of them turning into trapped because the slender streets clogged up.
Public anger over the catastrophe has mounted because it emerged that hours earlier than the tragedy members of the general public had phoned the police to warn of overcrowding issues.
Korean authorities have additionally come below hearth after witnesses stated there have been little to no crowd management measures in place in Itaewon on the evening of the crush – regardless of police receiving warnings far prematurely.
Final week, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company stated investigators raided eight of its places of work and seized paperwork referring to studies made by members of the general public to the 112 emergency hotline.
The raids had been carried out by a particular investigative unit created by the Nationwide Police Company (NPA) to look into the catastrophe. The NPA stated final week it had suspended the chief of the Yongsan police station, one of many police stations closest to the crush website.
Data given to CNN by the NPA present police obtained at the least 11 calls from folks in Itaewon involved about the opportunity of a crowd crush as early as 4 hours earlier than the incident occurred.
The primary name got here at 6:34 p.m., when a caller warned, “It seems actually harmful … I worry folks would possibly get crushed.”
One other caller lower than two hours later stated there have been so many individuals packed into Itaewon’s slender alleys that they saved falling over and getting damage.
Chatting with the media final week, NPA chief Yoon Hee-keun admitted for the primary time that police had made errors of their response.
He added that the police response to the emergency calls had been “insufficient,” and that he felt a “heavy accountability” because the company head.
This story has been up to date with the most recent loss of life toll within the catastrophe.
