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Itaewon Disaster Survivor Testifies: '100 Lives Could Have Been Saved If Response Was 10 Minutes Faster'
Testimony on the Disaster's Immediate Aftermath
Min Seong-ho, a survivor of the October 29 Itaewon crowd crush, testified about the horrific situation during the disaster at a fact-finding hearing held on March 12, 2026. He stated that as soon as he emerged, the crowd explosively surged, and he was pulled into the alley where the disaster occurred, against his will.
Survivor's Desperate Experience
Min Seong-ho recounted being trapped for approximately one hour, from 10 PM to 11 PM, enduring three major surges. He described feeling an instinctive sense of danger when his body tilted 30 to 40 degrees during the second surge, and people around him gradually lost consciousness. Cries of 'Help me!', 'I can't breathe!', and 'I'm going to die!' were incessant at the scene.
Criticizing Delayed Rescue and Suggesting Improvements
He unequivocally criticized the excessive delay in rescue operations, emphasizing that it was an undeniable fact that rescue teams did not arrive quickly. He further argued that swift rescue should have been carried out, even by mobilizing helicopters, and that more lives could have been saved if the barricades installed at the bottom of the disaster alley had been removed. Min Seong-ho expressed his regret, stating, "If we had been just 10 minutes faster, 100 people would have survived."
*Source: YouTube: MBC News (2026-03-12)*
