Car crashes into crowd in Seoul – nine dead

STORY: A car drove into pedestrians near Seoul City Hall on Monday (June 1), killing nine people and injuring at least four others, according to police and firefighters.

Local broadcaster YTN TV reported that the car crashed into pedestrians standing on the zebra crossing after colliding with two other cars.

Witness Park Sung-il described what they saw:

“Although some people collapsed (after being hit by the car), the person in the passenger seat was only concerned about the driver and mentioned that there were clothes in the trunk (to apply pressure to the wounds). If they had just quickly applied pressure to the people hit by the car, at least one person could have been saved. That one person probably died.”

According to a video shared with Reuters by a witness, a police officer was seen administering CPR to a person lying on the ground at the scene of the accident.

Temporary barriers had already been erected on Tuesday morning after the collision damaged the pedestrian guard rails.

Cho Hyun-ho runs a business near the crash site and said the news still affected him:

“(My daughter) called me because I run a business in front of the town hall. So I asked her what the accident was and I heard it was a big accident, a car accident. That’s how I found out. My heart is still… broken (with sadness) at that time.”

According to the police, the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.