The former former ‘Produce 101 Season 2’ contestant passed away ‘due to the accident in Itaewon on October 29,’ the actor’s agency confirmed in a statement.
As reported by Soompi, the representative of the agency continued, “We also hoped that it wasn’t true, and we were very shocked to hear the news. The family is suffering immense grief right now, so we are being very cautious. May he rest in peace.”
The news of Lee Ji Han’s passing first reached the public when several of his castmates from ‘Produce 101 Season 2’, including Park Hee Seok, Kim Do Hyun, and Cho Jin Hyung, took to Instagram to share the tragic news.
They wrote, “Ji Han has left this world and gone to a comfortable place. We ask that you say goodbye to him on his final path.”
Witnesses described scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd, people piling on top of one another, and paramedics, overwhelmed by the number of victims, asking passersby to administer first aid.
“There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first too,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP. “I felt like an accident was bound to happen.”
The stampede took place near the Hamilton Hotel in the nightlife district of Itaewon where a large number of people gathered in a narrow alley near the hotel.
Fire Department official Choi Seong-beom said the stampede, which occurred around 10:00 pm (1300 GMT), left 146 people dead and at least 150 injured.
“The high number of casualties was the result of many being trampled during the Halloween event,” Choi told reporters at the scene Sunday morning, adding that the death toll could climb.
AFP photos from the scene showed scores of bodies spread on the pavement covered by bed sheets and emergency workers dressed in orange vests loading even more bodies on stretchers into ambulances.
In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims described scenes of tragedy and chaos.
“When I first attempted CPR there were two victims lying on the pavement. But the number exploded soon after, outnumbering first responders at the scene,” Lee said. “Many bystanders came to help us with CPR.”
“It’s hard to put in words to describe,” he added. “So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath and many of them had a bloody nose. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths.”
The Yonhap news agency also quoted an unidentified witness as saying the person saw victims crushed to death.
“People were layered on top of others like a tomb. Some were gradually losing their consciousness while some looked dead by that point,” the witness said, according to Yonhap.
This year’s celebration is the first since the pandemic broke out in 2020 at which South Koreans have not been mandated to wear face masks outdoors.
