South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has called the deadly Halloween crush  in Seoul a “disastrous accident that should not have happened”. Admitting that institutional failures in managing crowds played a role in the disaster, which left over 150 dead, he said the government would work with all ministries, agencies and medical institutions to ensure such tragedies never happen again.

The admission came as the South Korean government faces growing public scrutiny over whether the crowd surge on Saturday night in Seoul’s Itaewon district, a popular nightlife neighbourhood, could have been prevented and who should take the responsibility for the country’s worst disaster in years.