BACKLASH AGAINST POLICE RESPONSE

[Anchor Lead]

Emergency calls that police received prior to the Itaewon disaster were found to be have been made in the cluster where the tragedy happened. The calls were made during a four-hour slot to notify police about the seriousness of the situation. Public backlash against the police response is growing.

[Pkg]

The first emergency call about the risk of a crowd crush was made at 6:34 p.m. near a convenience store. It's located in the same alleyway where the tragedy happened. Police did visit the site after receiving the call, but they just told the crowd to disperse and closed the case. When asked why the case was closed, police said the situation did not appear dangerous enough given the time and location. Afterwards, the crowd grew larger. Around 8 p.m. it looked as if something terrible could happen at any time. An emergency call saying people were falling and getting hurt was apparently made about 70 meters from the site of the crush either by an eyewitness or someone who escaped the scene. All of the 11 emergency calls made to let police know about the seriousness of the situation were made within 100 meters from the alleyway where the tragedy occurred.

[Soundbite] Hwang Chang-seon(Nat’l Police Agency) : "At 6 p.m. the crowd was dense enough to cause some discomfort. As time went by, around 9 p.m., there were emergency calls saying the situation was quite serious."

Police officers were mobilized four times after receiving emergency calls. But each time the cases were closed without taking any countermeasures. Six emergency calls ended with no police officials mobilized to the scene. They just responded by saying that officers had already been deployed and that those calling should just move to the sidewalk. Two of the emergency calls that ended without any measures were made right from the scene of the crush. The guidelines saying police must be mobilized when multiple emergency calls are made from the same location were not followed. It's still unclear if those who called the police at the time have survived the stampede. So far more than 300 people have been confirmed dead or injured in the deadly crush.