In South Korea, witnesses describe chain of failures as Itaewon crowd crush inquiry begins

South Korea’s long-awaited public inquiry into the 2022 Itaewon-crowd-crush" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="43117" data-entity-type="event">Itaewon crowd crush opened on Thursday with tearful testimony from survivors and heated exchanges between police officials accused of mishandling emergency calls on the night of the disaster.The hearing came more than three years after the tragedy, following prolonged political gridlock, disputes over accountability and repeated delays in forming an independent investigative body.The Itaewon-disaster" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="43118" data-entity-type="organization">National Commission for the Investigation of the October 29 Itaewon Disaster, the special fact-finding group investigating the tragedy, began the first of two days of hearings in central Seoul.The session drew bereaved families and witnesses whose testimonies shed new light on a chain of failures preceding the crowd surge, resulting in the deaths of 159 people during Halloween celebrations.A victim’s family member bursts into tears during an investigative hearing into the 2022 Itaewon Disaster on Thursday. Photo: The Korea TimesTears filled the hall as survivor Min Seung-ho recounted the moments before a crowd surge in a narrow alley in Itaewon turned fatal.