Horror at Halloween in Seoul – stampede takes more than 150 lives

It was a day of sorrow in Seoul as more than 151 people died and more than 150 suffered injuries during Halloween celebrations. The venue was the Itaewon neighborhood famous for its crowded narrow streets. Dozens of people had cardiac arrests. An official of the fire brigade mentioned about dispatching more than 140 ambulances to the scene of the tragedy. 19 foreigners from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway lost their lives in the stampede. Incidentally, Itaewon is a popular destination for people to celebrate Halloween in the South Korean capital. The incident apparently occurred because of a crush that resulted from the size of the crowd. Yoon Suk-yeol, the President of South Korea ordered officials to dispatch first aid teams and for hospital beds to be immediately available. South Korea declares national mourning after 151 killed in Halloween stampede. Media photographs showed many people lying prone on a street cordoned off by authorities as rescue workers tended to them. They carried out emergency first aid on several victims

Video footage showed yellow-jacketed policemen cordoning off the area around the site of the crush as rescue officials loaded the victims into ambulances. Blankets covered some of them. Nearly two dozen people were entirely covered by makeshift blankets on the roadside. South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered a thorough investigation. He said such a deadly stampede at the Halloween event "should not have happened." In his national address he said - "In the centre of Seoul, a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened." He also announced a period of national mourning and ordered the lowering of flags. In his words - “The government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought under control as a period of national mourning and will place top priority in administrative affairs in recovery and follow-up measures.”

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Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland will set up joint unit for peacekeeping operations

Poland has agreed to set up a joint military unit along with Ukraine and Lithuania to be based in the east of the country and it is understood from the Polish president's office that the new unit will be commanded from Lublin, in eastern Poland news.sky.com.
The proposed brigade will comprise soldiers of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland who will be located close to their home countries. As per the defense ministry, the project is aimed at creating a unit for peacekeeping operations and could, in future, form the basis to build a NATO battle group.
The US has also come to help out Ukraine – it has pledged $53m in aid to Ukraine, including radar equipment to counter mortar attacks. This includes $46m to bolster Ukraine's security in its conflict with Russian-backed separatists, and another $7m in humanitarian aid.
Of course, this package does not include any type of lethal weaponry that some Republican politicians had wanted the US to provide.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appealed to US Congress for lethal and non-lethal aid during his visit to Washington because, while blankets, and night-vision goggles are important, one cannot win the war with blankets. He has requested for more military aid beyond the basic equipment such as night-vision goggles which the US has already supplied.
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