CNN
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When he arrived within the South Korean town of Seoul in overdue August, American change scholar Steven Blesi temporarily advanced a large circle of buddies from around the globe.
The 20-year-old from Atlanta was once finding out on the town’s Hangyang University, as a part of a US find out about in another country program. He had deliberate to catch up with a number of other folks from the direction on Saturday within the Itaewon district of Seoul, to have a good time Halloween with 1000’s of alternative younger revelers.
But when he didn’t display up, his family and friends started a frantic seek to trace him down, sooner than sooner or later studying that he had died within the crowd weigh down in an overcrowded alleyway which killed 156 most commonly younger other folks.
Blesi’s very best pal at the program was once Ian Chang, 21, from Florida, who was once 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 cherished “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 have been meant to satisfy within the slender streets of Itaewon, a well-liked district covered with nightclubs, bars and rapid meals shops. The pair were in combination previous that day, then Chang had long gone house 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 risk that was once unfolding. He despatched Blesi a Snapchat message at 10:17 p.m. urging him to keep away from Itaewon, and to satisfy up locally of Hongdae as an alternative.
“It’s too packed. And there’s no place to go,” Chang’s message stated.
As information unfold of the horror that spread out within the Itaewon alleyway over the following couple of hours, Blesi’s different buddies additionally attempted calling and messaging him.
“You can come to my place … it’s safe here. Where are you Steven?” messaged 24-year-old Belgian change scholar, Wassim Essebane, at round 1 a.m. on Sunday by the use of KakaoTalk, a South Korean messaging app very similar to WhatsApp.
Another pal, Stefanie Reuss, 22, was once additionally looking to monitor Blesi down from her house greater than 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) away in Austria. Reuss helped to boost the alarm, via posting messages on Instagram and Twitter looking for him.
One of the folk Reuss contacted was once 19-year-old Olivia Kim from Houston, Texas, who were relationship Blesi for a couple of weeks. Kim were making plans to visit Itaewon on Saturday evening, however modified plans on the final minute. She was once because of move 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 touch with Blesi on Saturday, and when he nonetheless didn’t reply on Sunday morning, she started to fret that he was once probably the most sufferers.
Back house in Atlanta, Blesi’s father, Steve, was once additionally rising increasingly 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 following couple of hours, the repeated overlooked calls and messages went unanswered.
At round 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, Chang stated Blesi’s mom had emailed him, on the lookout for lend a hand in monitoring down her son. Chang stated they attempted to name across the hospitals in Seoul, enlisting their Korean-speaking buddies to lend a hand.
But round noon on Sunday, all of them discovered the inside track they feared essentially the most, after being informed via Blesi’s father, who were knowledgeable via the USA embassy.
Another American scholar from this system, 20-year-old Anne Gieske from Kentucky, additionally died within the crowd weigh down on Saturday evening. She were with Blesi previous within the night time, even though it’s now not transparent in the event that they have been in combination after they died.
Earlier within the night time, the younger partygoers had concept the overpacked streets within the Itaewon district of Seoul have been a part of the thrill of the Halloween enjoy.
“At the beginning we thought it was funny,” stated Anne-Lou Chevalier, a 22-year-old French change scholar who survived the group weigh down. “We heard Halloween in Itaewon was amazing.”
But when an estimated 100,000 other folks sooner or later filled 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 pal 18-year-old Alice Sannier, additionally from France.
The buddies were given separated within the chaos of the group, and Chevalier fainted two times within the weigh down, 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 prone.
“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 general, 101 ladies and 55 males have been killed within the crisis.
Sannier and several other different eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN stated that they noticed a couple of other folks pushing into the group, which is being investigated as a imaginable cause for the domino impact that came about.
“Everyone was pushing, that’s why so many people were dying,” Sannier stated, including that they didn’t see any cops after they have been within the packed alleyway.
Records display 11 calls were made to police to warn in regards to the scenario in Itaewon sooner than the weigh down came about on Saturday night time, and the top of South Korea’s National Police Agency has stated that the police reaction to these calls was once “inadequate.” An investigation is underway.
Friends and households of the sufferers are simplest simply starting to procedure what came about to their family members, a lot of whom have been simply beginning out in existence.
“It is unimaginable,” Reuss informed CNN.
Reuss had met Blesi when she spent 3 weeks touring in Seoul in September. They had temporarily change into buddies, partying in combination and doing karaoke and consuming Korean fish fry, they usually have been planning to trip in combination 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 once an Eagle Scout, favored basketball and sought after to be informed a couple 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 once a mountain climbing commute a couple 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 smartly as mountain climbing and taking part in the meals and nightlife of South Korea, Blesi additionally cherished 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 pal Essebane informed CNN that Blesi was once “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 only some months of realizing every different, Chang stated he had come to consider 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.”
