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Brazilian says she escaped tragedy in Seoul for 20 minutes

Brazilian Rebecca Câmara, 25, reported having escaped the tragedy for 20 minutes in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul. She told the newspaper “O Estado de S. Paulo” that she was waiting with her friends on the sidewalk opposite the Hamilton Hotel, where the episode began.

Rebecca, who works in Seoul as a model, chose to stay on the opposite side as she felt the party venue was too crowded. “I asked us to stay on the opposite sidewalk because it was too crowded and we wouldn’t be able to get out or walk properly,” she said.

“If we had crossed 20 minutes earlier like the girls [amigas] wanted, we would be in the middle of the crowd and God knows what could have happened”, he says, explaining that the group then decided to walk in the opposite direction to the scene of the tragedy. A little later, he reported, he began to notice the large number of ambulances, police cars and fire engines.

According to the Brazilian, the Halloween party is very popular and usually attracts crowds walking in the same direction. “People are being pushed around. It’s like a carnival block”, says the model, adding that the participants usually gather in the narrow streets of the neighborhood.

At least 151 people died and more than 150 were injured on Saturday in South Korea as they were crushed by a crowd moving along a narrow street during Halloween festivities. This is already the biggest peacetime tragedy in South Korea since the Sewol ferry sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people.

(With information from Reuters)

Source: CNN Brasil

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