Music event cancelled due to overcrowding after five near-suffocation accidents

Visitors rush to the exits to escape dangerously crowded conditions during the Boiler Room music festival in Seoul’s Seongdong district on Sunday. Photographed by X

Incident raises safety concerns and brings back memories of Itaewon tragedy

By Jung Da-hyun

A music festival in Seoul’s trendy Seongdong district was canceled early Sunday after five attendees experienced breathing difficulties.

There were concerns that the event organizer had oversold tickets, leading to widespread criticism of apparent negligence regarding safety protocols. The incident brought back memories of the tragic Itaewon stampede that occurred just two years ago.

According to the fire department, several reports of dangerous overcrowding were received during the Boiler Room Seoul 2024 music festival at SFactory, a cultural complex in Seongsu-dong, one of Seoul’s trendiest and most Instagrammed neighborhoods.

Although no one was injured, five visitors reported difficulty breathing. In response, authorities sent 11 fire trucks and 42 firefighters to the scene. The concert was canceled at around 1 a.m.

The concert was scheduled to take place from 9pm Saturday to 4am Sunday in a four-story steel building. DJs performed all night long on the dance floors on the first and third floors.

The highlight of the event was a performance by Peggy Gou, a world-famous Korean DJ from Berlin, on the third floor of the concert hall, scheduled for 1 a.m.

Around midnight, participants began to gather on the third floor, exceeding the capacity of 1,000 people.

Kim Do-heon, a pop culture critic who arrived at the venue around midnight, described the scene as chaotic, with queues so long that visitors blocked some entrances.

“As the crowds rushed toward the third floor, they were pushed back by the overwhelming number of visitors,” Kim said.

No casualties were reported, but the incident sparked public concern and brought back memories of the Itaewon stampede, in which 159 people died in a deadly crush. The event also sparked concerns about safety measures in light of overcrowding.

The event organizer was criticized for allegedly selling more tickets than the venue could accommodate. Both the first and third floors of the building can accommodate 1,000 people each, but the fire department estimated that only about 4,500 people attended the event.

“The biggest problem was the overselling of tickets, which affected the flow of the event,” Kim said.

The Boiler Room event is typically an intimate experience where DJs surround themselves with the crowd, creating a unique festival atmosphere.

He further explained that the Boiler Room Festival is normally an invitation-only event and that there are limited ticket sales available overseas.

Kim also raised concerns about the venue’s structural integrity, pointing out that the third floor could have collapsed under the weight of an overcrowded audience, potentially leading to a more serious incident.

According to reports, the organizer has now sold a total of 4,000 tickets for the event. He defended this decision by saying that he had initially expected a capacity of 2,000 seats. However, since the event was a standing concert, the number had been adjusted.

They acknowledged the confusion caused by the high demand for tickets at the venue, but stressed their efforts to ensure security, including the deployment of around 90 security guards.

The organizers have announced that they will refund all ticket holders the full purchase price.