Hamlet Talje Willloughby is a model from Gothenburg and moved to Seoul just three weeks ago. On Saturday, he was going to celebrate Halloween with his friends and was sitting at a bar in the entertainment district of Itaewon, Seoul, when the mood quickly changed – and people began to panic.
– I didn’t know if they were joking, because it was Halloween and so many people had dressed up. But then you started getting videos in various group chats where people tried to revive people who were lying unconscious on the street. Then they realized it was serious, he says.
“Low bodies everywhere”
It was around 12 noon local time that Hamlet and friends began to receive warning messages from the authorities that everyone in Itaewon should be evacuated, leaving the streets to allow ambulances and fire brigades to arrive.
He and his friends were shocked and tried to get away, he says. Hamlet lives only ten minutes away, so he decided to walk home.
– I saw maybe 50, 60 lifeless bodies on the street. The police cordoned off the entire area, but we needed to walk past, he says.
– I had never seen a dead body before, and there were bodies everywhere on the street.
Watch Swedish Hamlet Talje Willloughby recount the evening’s events in the video above.