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11 teens, 26 foreigners and 98 women: A look at the 154 lives lost in Itaewon tragedy

By Park Han-na

Published : Oct. 31, 2022 - 14:34

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Funeral hall at Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. The bodies of 14 victims of the Itaewon tragedy were enshrined at the hospital. (Yonhap) Funeral hall at Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. The bodies of 14 victims of the Itaewon tragedy were enshrined at the hospital. (Yonhap)

The 154 victims in the deadly crowd crush in Itaewon on Saturday night included 11 teenagers, as young as middle school aged, 26 foreigners and 98 women. The largest number of the dead -- 103 -- were in their 20s.

Here is a look at the lives lost in South Korea’s worst disaster since the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking.

11 teens

Of the 11 teen victims, six were attending school, according to The Ministry of Education on Monday. Five were high-schoolers and one was a middle school student, all from Seoul. The middle school student is the youngest victim of the tragedy.

The ministry confirmed that three teachers were also killed in the incident. They were from Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Ulsan.

"We plan to form a psychological counseling team with the education office to provide psychological counseling for trauma treatment for the school where the deaths occurred,” Ministry of Education spokesperson Kim Cheon-hong said.

Six students -- four from Seoul and one from South Chungcheong Province – are among the 149 injured. The ministry’s data include only those attending middle or high schools, not college. Those outside school are also not included.

26 foreigners

The 26 victims with foreign nationality have all been identified and their respective embassies have been notified, according to government officials.

The victims include five from Iran, four from China, four from Russia, two from the United States, two from Japan, and one each from France, Australia, Norway, Austria, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka.

A total of 15 foreigners are injured.

98 women

Out of the 154 victims, 98 women were killed while 56 were men.

Experts said in a deadly crowd surge, where people die of asphyxiation or crushed to the point they can’t breathe, people with less muscle mass, smaller frames and weaker physical strength – women or children -- are more likely to fall victim.

103 twenty-somethings

Twenty-somethings were the majority of the deaths. Of the total 154 people who died, 103 were in their 20s and 30 were in their 30s.