LOOPHOLES FOUND IN RESPONSE MEASURES

[Anchor Lead]

Despite multiple emergency calls from the public prior to the disaster, evidence points to serious loopholes in the way police, fire authorities and the local district office dealt with the situation. An emergency call saying that people were collapsing in a crowd was received around 8 p.m. prompting police to request a joint response from the fire authority. However, neither side took proactive measures until the tragedy broke out after 10 p.m. The local district office also failed to prevent the disaster despite the opportunity to do so.

[Pkg]

On the evening of October 29 police received an emergency call saying the situation was "precarious." The caller said people were collapsing and the situation was uncontrollable, adding a serious accident was about to happen. Upon receiving the call, police requested a joint response from the fire authority twice. It means they were already aware by then of how dangerous the situation was. However, the fire authority called the emergency caller back to confirm no one had been injured yet, and did not mobilize. Police officers who requested a joint response did mobilize to the scene of the tragedy, but closed the case without taking any measures against the crowd. At 10:12 p.m. the rescue service received an emergency call from someone in Itaewon saying the person was suffocating. Still, firefighters did not mobilize because they couldn't clearly hear what the caller was saying. While the situation was unfolding, the control center of Yongsan-gu District Office also failed to take measures even though it had the resources to monitor the scene via security cameras.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-ho(Ministry of the Interior and Safety) : "As far as I know, there were no reports from Yongsan-gu's control center filed to our control room."

Because of the authorities' failure to address the problem or make adequate decisions despite multiple alerts, emergency calls made by the public were all in vain. The National Police Agency's special investigation headquarters is looking into negligence committed by police, fire authority and the Yongsang-gu District Office as well as public officials who were dispatched to the scene at the time. After expanding the team, the investigators will likely start summoning involved figures for questioning.