At least 149 people were killed in a stampede when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday night.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is chairing an emergency meeting with senior aides.
Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to rescue them.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just tweeted this: “We were deeply saddened to learn of the deadly stampede today in Seoul.
“We send our thoughts and deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and injured, as well as to the people of the ROK as they mourn this horrific tragedy.”
About 150 people were injured in the melee in Seoul’s Itaewon district, Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, told reporters.
Many of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the officials said.
