It has happened again. During Halloween celebrations in the South Korean capital Seoul. A huge amount of people in a narrow alley led to over 150 people losing their lives.
However, the vast majority of events where large crowds gather occur without injury or death. But when it does happen, it often follows the same pattern.
— Every little movement is amplified in the crowd, because all the bodies are so pressed together, it creates a kind of momentum. Every little movement is amplified and creates shock waves, Professor Keith Still said in an interview with the US radio network NPRafter the Astroworld festival in Houston last November when ten young people lost their lives.
From footage of crowding incidents, one can easily conclude that people are being trampled to death. But the truth is that most people suffocate.
Creates oxygen deficiency
— When people struggle to get up, arms and legs twist together. The blood supply to the brain begins to decrease, said Professor Keith Still.
What is not seen are forces so strong they can bend steel. This means that something as simple as taking a breath becomes impossible. People die standing up while those who fall to the ground lose their lives when they fall under others and there is such pressure that it becomes impossible to breathe.
— It takes 30 seconds before you lose consciousness, and after about six minutes you are in compressive or restrictive asphyxia (lack of oxygen, editor’s note). It is often the cause of death – not crushing, but suffocation, Still continues.
“Can’t Save Themselves”
Survivors of similar events tell stories of gasping for breath, being pushed deeper under what feels like an avalanche of flesh as other people, desperate to escape, climb over them.
“Survivors described being gradually compressed, unable to move, their heads locked between arms and shoulders . . . gasping for breath in panic,” said a report after the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield in 1989, when close to 100 Liverpool fans were crushed death in connection with a football match.
“They were aware that people were dying and they couldn’t save themselves”.