Disasters & Accidents

Teenage survivor of Seoul crowd crush dies in apparent suicide

Seoul, Dec 14 (EFE).- A high school student who survived the Seoul Halloween crowd crush that claimed more than 150 lives has been found dead in an apparent suicide, police said.

The young man’s body was found late Tuesday in his accommodation in Mapo district of the capital, half an hour after his mother reported that she was unable to contact him.

“He is assumed to have taken his own life. No autopsy will be conducted according to the wishes of his family,” a police official said, according to Yonhap news agency Wednesday.

Police did not find a suicide note nor any indication of foul play.

On Oct. 29, the student, identified only as “A,” and a friend had gone to Itaewon nightlife area, where hundreds of people got trapped that night in a narrow alleyway, resulting in 158 deaths.

“A” received medical treatment for injuries sustained in the crush, and his friend lost his life, Yonhap said.

South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development with 26 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to 2021 data, with a special incidence in those over 80 years of age, a group that doubles the national average. EFE

asb/tw

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