South Korea’s prime minister said Wednesday that police must explain failures to respond to multiple emergency calls ahead of a deadly Halloween crowd surge, as investigators raided police stations.
SEOUL, South Korea —
Transcripts of emergency calls obtained by AFP, many made hours before disaster struck, document rising desperation over crowd density. “When each citizen makes an emergency call, it is when they are very urgent and in dire need of help or action from the police,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a government meeting.
“The special investigation team is conducting a raid on eight agencies including the Seoul Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station and the Yongsan Gu Office,” a spokesman for the national police agency told AFP.“The government will do its best to create a safer society by using this accident as a lesson,” said Park Jong-hyun of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
A handful of top officials including the police chief, Seoul mayor and the interior minister issued public apologies on Tuesday, admitting they had failed to prevent the fatal disaster. The opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called on top government officials to take responsibility over the disaster.
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