South Korea: 16 dead after concert venue accident

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

South Korean officials have confirmed 16 concertgoers dead after an accident Friday at a venue on the outskirts of capital Seoul.

National news agency Yonhap cited emergency responders in reporting that up to ten others are in a critical condition after they fell around ten meters when a ventilation grate they were standing on gave way at the outdoor U-Space venue in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

The accident happened at 17:53 local time (11.53 Turkish time), as K-Pop group 4Minute was performing on stage before around 700 people.

A puff of dust could be seen on footage of the concert but 4Minute members were apparently unaware of what had happened.

While the injured were receiving hospital treatment, parallels were immediately being drawn with April's Sewol ferry disaster, which left more than 300 people dead or still missing.

Public safety has been a highly sensitive topic in the country since the tragedy.

With witnesses telling Yonhap that there were no safety warnings around the ventilation grate in question, Gyeonggi Province governor Nam Kyung-pil was reportedly on his way back to South Korea from a trip to Germany.

www.aa.com.tr/en