The Halloween festive night in Itaewon suddenly turned tragic on Saturday after hundreds of people were caught up in a fatal crowd crush incident, killing at least 154 people and injuring 149 others.
Among the deceased were 26 foreigners from 14 countries. Five were from Iran, four from China, four from Russia, two from Japan, two from the U.S., one each from France, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Austria, according to the fire authorities.
Among the 149 injured people, 15 were foreigners. Fourteen of them returned home after treatment and one remained in a hospital.
On Monday morning, Foreign Minister Park Jin told a meeting of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee that the ministry would take all necessary measures to support funeral procedures and dispatch one ministry official to each bereaved family to help them with visa and fast arrivals.
“The ministry has already made contact with all the bereaved (in foreign countries) involved in the horrific event,” a Foreign Ministry official told Korea Biomedical Review.
"We are mostly preparing on how to respond to this situation. We haven't been informed of what information or services we can pass on to the people affected by this. If we are made aware of it, I will let you know," the official said.
Financial support
The Seoul city government said that it would be providing relief funds to the bereaved families of the deceased and the missing and the injured and that the amount of the relief funds would be the same for foreign victims.
However, the government explained that the relief fund will not be provided to foreigners who have elapsed their period of stay without due legal process.
In case of death or disappearance, the government will provide 20 million won ($14,060) per person. Those injured due to the incident will receive 5-10 million won, depending on the degree of disability.
The government will provide 5 million won for disability grades 8 to 14, and 10 million won for grades 1 to 7.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety also decided to provide up to 15 million won for funeral expenses to the families of the deceased, and to pay medical expenses to the wounded first through the National Health Insurance Service.
Mental health support not ready yet
However, further inquiry into the Foreign Ministry and Seoul City Hall revealed that authorities lacked plans to provide mental health-related support to foreigners who were suffering from the trauma of the horrific images and memories of the tragedy.
Nuhyil Ahammed, a 32-year-old man from India, said he kept remembering the CPR scene.
"I saw a guy giving CPR to a close friend, evenethough he knew he was already dead. He kept doing it more than 30 minutes although his friend tried to stop him. When I close my eyes I keep seeing it," he said.
The government had previously announced that it will form an "Itaewon Accident Integrated Psychological Support Team" to provide psychological support to the injured and their families, centering on the National Trauma Center.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of beneficiaries is expected to be about 1,000, including 600 bereaved families, 150 injured, and eyewitnesses.
Despite vowing support to Koreans, the ministry and city hall could not provide any additional information regarding psychological support to foreigners.
Still, there are some services that foreigners who are traumatized by the incident can call or talk to in English.
The services include "Counsel 24" (1566-2525), Lifeline Korea (1588-9191), the Ministry of Health and Welfare Call Center (129), and the Suicide Prevention Hotline (1393).
KBR called the 1330, a line for finding out about missing foreigners, to ask about counselling or other support services for foreign victims, and the person referred KBR to the National Trauma Center (1577-0199). However, this help center had no English services.
KBR called the Seoul Global Center, too, because it usually offers counselling services to foreigners in 13 different languages, and learned that a foreigner could receive five mental therapy sessions at maximum.
However, the service was given by an intern therapist, not a licensed therapist, and the topics were mostly about Seoul life, immigration, and visas.
When asked about the Itaewon trauma counselling, the Seoul Global Center referred KBR to the Seoul West Global Center (02-2229-4900).
“We only have one person who does the service in English who is currently out of office but will be available for counselling services from tomorrow,” the person from the Seoul West Global Center said.
Meanwhile, a private group called Adaptable Human Solutions (AHS) Counseling Center in Seoul announced on Monday that they will be volunteering free English counselling services to those impacted by the Itaewon tragedy. The service provided by licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Jill Dunbar, is available on Wednesdays from 7:00-8:30pm for the month of November by making a reservation at welcome@ahskorea.com.