CNN
—
When he arrived within the South Korean metropolis of Seoul in late August, American trade pupil Steven Blesi shortly developed a large circle of buddies from around the globe.
The 20-year-old from Atlanta was finding out on the metropolis’s Hangyang University, as a part of a US examine overseas program. He had deliberate to satisfy up with a number of folks from the course on Saturday within the Itaewon district of Seoul, to have fun Halloween with 1000’s of different younger revelers.
But when he didn’t present up, his family and friends started a frantic search to trace him down, earlier than finally studying that he had died within the crowd crush in an overcrowded alleyway which killed 156 principally younger folks.
Blesi’s finest buddy on this system was Ian Chang, 21, from Florida, who was additionally his neighbor of their college dorms.
“We pretty much like adventures, doing spontaneous stuff,” Chang informed CNN in an unique interview this week. “And just exploring the city.”
Blesi liked “dancing, drinking, having fun,” Chang stated, and “every time he met someone new, he had a big impact on them.”
On Saturday evening, Chang and Blesi had been supposed to satisfy within the slender streets of Itaewon, a well-liked district lined with nightclubs, bars and quick meals retailers. The pair had been collectively earlier that day, then Chang had gone residence to get modified.
“At the beginning we just wanted to go to Itaewon to see how it was, see what’s so special about Halloween there,” Chang stated. “Because we heard from people (that) Itaewon is going to be big on Halloween.”
But when he arrived in Itaewon round 9:40 p.m., Chang started to comprehend the hazard that was unfolding. He despatched Blesi a Snapchat message at 10:17 p.m. urging him to keep away from Itaewon, and to satisfy up within the neighborhood of Hongdae as a substitute.
“It’s too packed. And there’s no place to go,” Chang’s message stated.
As information unfold of the horror that unfolded within the Itaewon alleyway over the subsequent few hours, Blesi’s different buddies additionally tried calling and messaging him.
“You can come to my place … it’s safe here. Where are you Steven?” messaged 24-year-old Belgian trade pupil, Wassim Essebane, at round 1 a.m. on Sunday through KakaoTalk, a South Korean messaging app much like WhatsApp.
Another buddy, Stefanie Reuss, 22, was additionally making an attempt to trace Blesi down from her residence greater than 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) away in Austria. Reuss helped to lift the alarm, by posting messages on Instagram and Twitter looking for him.
One of the folks Reuss was contacted by was 19-year-old Olivia Kim from Houston, Texas, who had been relationship Blesi for a number of weeks. Kim had been planning to go to Itaewon on Saturday evening, however modified plans on the final minute. She was because of go on a date with Blesi on Sunday afternoon.
“Steven and I have been talking to each other nearly everyday for about a month after going on our first date in early October,” Kim informed CNN. “I immediately adored his emotional generosity, wit, adventurous spirit, and optimistic personality.”
Kim had misplaced contact with Blesi on Saturday, and when he nonetheless didn’t reply on Sunday morning, she started to fret that he was one of many victims.
Back residence in Atlanta, Blesi’s father, Steve, was additionally rising more and more determined.
“Maybe a half hour before this tragedy took place, I texted him in WhatsApp … ‘I know you’re out and about. Stay safe. I love you.’ And I never got a response back,” Blesi’s father stated.
Over the subsequent few hours, the repeated missed calls and messages went unanswered.
At round 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, Chang stated Blesi’s mom had emailed him, in search of assist in monitoring down her son. Chang stated they tried to name across the hospitals in Seoul, enlisting their Korean-speaking buddies to assist.
But round noon on Sunday, all of them discovered the information they feared probably the most, after being informed by Blesi’s father, who had been knowledgeable by the US embassy.
Another American pupil from this system, 20-year-old Anne Gieske from Kentucky, additionally died within the crowd crush on Saturday evening. She had been with Blesi earlier within the night, though it’s not clear in the event that they had been collectively once they died.
Earlier within the night, the younger partygoers had thought the overpacked streets within the Itaewon district of Seoul had been a part of the enjoyable of the Halloween expertise.
“At the beginning we thought it was funny,” stated Anne-Lou Chevalier, a 22-year-old French trade pupil who survived the group crush. “We heard Halloween in Itaewon was amazing.”
But when an estimated 100,000 folks finally crammed into the slender lanes and alleyways, panic started to set in.
“We (started) to be very, very stuck together and crushed, and then we heard some people screaming and crying,” Chevalier stated.
“We were trying to help people, because there were a lot of people (who) couldn’t breathe,” stated her buddy 18-year-old Alice Sannier, additionally from France.
The buddies obtained separated within the chaos of the group, and Chevalier fainted twice within the crush, including that it felt “like dying.”
“I remember that I had no air, so I started suffocating,” Chevalier stated. “Somehow I got evacuated with my friend, so I’m very, very lucky.”
The two buddies stated their slight frames made them extra weak.
“Because we are small in size, there (were) a lot of foreigners that were (much) taller and they were surrounding us, so at one point you cannot have some air, and then you start to freak out,” Chevalier stated.
In complete, 101 ladies and 55 males had been killed within the catastrophe.
Sannier and several other different eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN stated that they noticed a number of folks pushing into the group, which is being investigated as a doable set off for the domino impact that occurred.
“Everyone was pushing, that’s why so many people were dying,” Sannier stated, including that they didn’t see any cops once they had been within the packed alleyway.
Records present eleven calls had been made to police to warn in regards to the scenario in Itaewon earlier than the crush occurred on Saturday night, and the pinnacle of South Korea’s National Police Agency has stated that the police response to these calls was “inadequate.” An investigation is underway.
Friends and households of the victims are solely simply starting to course of what occurred to their family members, a lot of whom had been simply beginning out in life.
“It is unimaginable,” Reuss informed CNN.
Reuss had met Blesi when she spent three weeks touring in Seoul in September. They had shortly turn into buddies, partying collectively and doing karaoke and consuming Korean barbecue, they usually had been planning to journey collectively in Europe.
“He was curious about the world,” Reuss stated. “He had so many dreams. I am very similar to him. It makes me sad.”
Blesi’s father stated his son had “always been an adventurer.” He was an Eagle Scout, appreciated basketball and needed to be taught a number of languages, he stated.
“He had an incredibly bright future that is now gone,” he added.
One of Blesi and Chang’s most up-to-date adventures was a mountaineering journey a number of weeks in the past, to the mountainous island of Jeju off the southwest coast of South Korea.
“We (were) just all impressed by how far we’ve been from home,” Chang stated. “Going on all these adventures together. And exploring something that we probably haven’t thought of a year ago.”
As nicely as mountaineering and having fun with the meals and nightlife of South Korea, Blesi additionally liked its cultural traditions.
“He’d never been to Asia so he really wanted to explore,” Chang stated. “He was really excited to go into, for example, temples.”
His buddy Essebane informed CNN that Blesi was “an absolute great guy.”
“He was kind, open, made you feel comfortable, had such a warm personality, and he was funny,” Essebane stated. “I’ll never forget about him.”
In just a few months of realizing one another, Chang stated he had come to think about Blesi as his “brother.”
“Steven was the kindest person there ever was,” Chang stated.
“I’m just glad to have had him in my life,” he added. “I wish I could have made more memories with him.”