Singer and actor Lee Jihan was among those who died in the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy in Seoul, South Korea. He was 24.
154 people were killed in a crowd surge at Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district on Saturday.
Calls for accountability were growing Monday in the press and online as potential lapses of crowd control and policing emerged.
Singer and actor Lee Jihan was among those who died in the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy in Seoul, South Korea.
Two agencies representing the star, 935 Entertainment and 9Ato Entertainment, confirmed the news on Sunday. He was 24.
The star appeared on the popular boy band competition series Produce 101 in 2017 and starred in the Korean drama Today Was Another Namhyun Day in 2019, Billboard reports.
According to AFP, 154 people were killed in a crowd surge at Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of partygoers were packed into the downhill alleyway, no more than three metres (10 feet) wide, with eyewitnesses describing scenes of chaos as people pushed and shoved to get through, with no police in sight to guide or control the crowd.
Witnesses described being trapped in a narrow, sloping alleyway and scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd as people piled on top of one another.
Most of the 154 dead, including 26 foreigners, had been identified Sunday, with the education ministry confirming Monday that at least six young teenagers were among the victims.
But the toll could rise further with at least 33 people in critical condition, officials said.
Police failures?
Calls for accountability were growing Monday in the press and online as potential lapses of crowd control and policing emerged.
As many as 100 000 people - mostly in their teens and 20s, many wearing Halloween costumes - had poured into Itaewon's small, winding streets, with eyewitnesses describing scant security and no crowd control.
Police said at a briefing Monday they had deployed 137 officers to the event, pointing out that the number was significantly higher than in previous years.
But local reports said many police deployed were focused on drug use rather than crowd control.
"This was a disaster that could have been controlled or prevented," Lee Young-ju, a professor from the Department of Fire and Disaster at the University of Seoul, told broadcaster YTN.
"But this was not taken care of, with no one taking the responsibility in the first place. "On Sunday, the government defended the policing plan.
"(The crush) was not a problem that could be solved by deploying police or firefighters in advance," Interior Minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing.