"For Over 20 Mins, I Performed CPR…[But] I Couldn’t Save The Person I Was Helping," Korean Actor Yoon Hongbin Who Witnessed The Itaewon Halloween Crowd Crush

Yesterday (Oct 30), Korean actor Yoon Hongbin, who's known for his role as Prince Imhae in the historical Korean drama The Jingbirok: A Memoir of Imjin War, took to his Instagram to pay tribute to the victims of the recent Itaewon crowd crush.

The 28-year-old shared that he and his girlfriend were in a nearby bar where they witnessed the tragedy. He also recounted his experience assisting with rescue efforts.

According to Korean news agency Yoonhap, the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush is now the worst tragedy of its kind in South Korean history. The death toll has risen to 154, including 26 foreigners. 

Recalling what went down that day, Hongbin wrote: "I went to Itaewon to enjoy Halloween for the first time in my life, and I experienced a disaster in front of my eyes.” 

“The main street was simply chaos, and I was pushed around the street with my girlfriend despite saying dozens of times that it was dangerous,” he said.

"When I entered the bar and went outside to smoke about an hour later, one or two people were getting carried out. As soon as I saw that, I predicted the crush accident [would happen]. When more and more people were being carried out and we couldn’t put them in ambulances anymore, we started laying people down in the alley where we conducted CPR,” he added.

However, his rescue efforts were unfortunately futile. 

"For over 20 minutes, I performed CPR on the victims while my girlfriend massaged their arms and legs. We tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. We were crying and praying for the victims to regain consciousness and dozens of people were performing CPR on the victims in the alley. You could hear all of us begging for them to open their eyes. From what I know, only one victim from the alley where I was eventually regained consciousness. I was not able to save the person I was helping either."

Hongbin also felt that the tragedy could have been prevented if appropriate measures were implemented beforehand. 

“It was possible to prevent the disaster if the police were in the streets where people had actually formed crowds, instead of the roadside. I know the police also had a hard time and did their best, but I think the police were deployed to the wrong places and that failed to prevent the disaster. Please, I hope everyone will make a keen effort to stop this from happening again,” he said.

Photos: kbizoom, koreaboo