Families of foreign Itaewon victims say footage from final moments shows police absence

Families of foreign victims of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush watched second-by-second footage of their loved ones’ final moments and said the recordings showed too few police officers at the scene and a rescue response that came too late.

“Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I watched my sister’s final moments, where she walked and how she died,” Damira Sherniyazova, who traveled from Kazakhstan, said during a press conference in Seoul Wednesday. Her sister, Madina, was among the 26 foreign nationals killed in the crowd crush that claimed 159 lives in a narrow Seoul alley four years ago.

A total of 35 members of 18 families across 10 countries arrived in Korea at the government’s invitation starting Friday to mark the fourth anniversary of the tragedy. During closed-door meetings with individual families on Wednesday, the special investigation commission presented footage showing each victim’s movements prior to the disaster, their final moments and rescue attempts. The footage drew on some 1,000 videos the commission had collected, including CCTV and firefighters’ body camera recordings.

“We were shown photos and footage of my sister, minute by minute, second by second. At first, she was walking normally, smiling and happy. Then, suddenly, she was swept along by the crowd,” Sherniyazova said. “It took 44 minutes before rescuers reached her. That is a very long time to wait without oxygen.”

Pascal Guenego, a French national whose son, Limamou Laye Guenego, died in the crush, said the footage confirmed what many families long suspected: There were too few police officers at the scene and civilians — not emergency responders — were the first to perform CPR.

“It was a terrible and emotional experience, seeing my son’s death. But we came to understand how the incident happened,” he said.

However, the grief of viewing the footage was accompanied by frustration as family members said the investigation had made little progress. Their concerns centered on the commission's failure to reach firm conclusions and its repetition of the same updates it had offered a year earlier, when foreign families were first invited to Korea.

“I thought last year would be my last trip to Seoul. I was told the investigation would be finished by the end of the summer of 2026,” said Susanne Rosholmen Roalkvam, a Norwegian woman who lost her daughter. “I cannot understand what is going on in Seoul, which is why we returned.”

Guenego added, “We kept hearing the same vague statements over and over: that the commission’s mandate had been extended by a year, that nothing had been firmly established and that they were working on it.”

The commission’s mandate, originally due to expire on Oct. 16, was extended to Sept. 16, 2027. At an interim briefing Tuesday, the commission outlined gaps in police deployment and failures in the disaster response command system. The commission announced it would investigate the former interior minister and former President Yoon Suk Yeol within this year.

For Iranian mother Hajar Jalal Far, who lost her son Ali Parakand, the visit marked her fourth trip to Korea. She said the promises made during her previous visit rang hollow.

"When we came to Korea last year with help from civic groups, the president promised a thorough investigation and justice and the special investigation commission had been launched. The National Assembly speaker also promised to uncover the truth," she said.

“But before coming to Korea this time, we were shocked by news from the court. Even audio recordings of calls to the police’s emergency hotline had not been submitted to the court ... How can we, the bereaved families, expect truth and justice?"

Families also reported experiencing a persistent information gap. When asked whether any of them had been contacted by their embassies or the Korean government since last year’s visit, none raised a hand.

“We remain cut off from information and left in the dark,” Jalal Far said. “We cannot spend all our time searching for what is happening in Korea.”

Although the former Yongsan police chief and the district chief are on trial, families and relatives said those responsible for failures in the initial response — including the delayed arrival of rescue crews and the absence of crowd control — must also face consequences.

“I want to know, name by name, who is responsible,” Sherniyazova said.

Despite their frustration, several family members expressed gratitude toward the commission’s investigators and the Korean civilians who tried to save lives that night.

“I saw the young man who gave my son CPR,” said Penda Diallo, the mother of the French victim Guenego. "I thank him for trying until the very end."