SEOUL — A white jacket smeared in dirt. A purple mask from a Teletubbies costume. Two mismatched Japanese clogs. A pair of heels streaked with scuff marks.
Hundreds of items recovered from the Itaewon disaster were still left behind Wednesday in a gymnasium in Seoul, where dozens of bodies had been stored Saturday night after a massive crowd crush led to a disaster with a death toll that has risen to at least 156.
Survivors and victims’ family members are now tasked with rifling through what is left behind — each item meticulously labeled and organized in rows in a vast room that is entirely silent except for the quiet hum of cars passing by.
Carolina Cano, a 21-year-old exchange student from Mexico, sent her friend to recover one thing: a single white Nike Fuse sneaker. It was pulled from her foot as a stranger yanked her out of the deadly crush Saturday night, just as she was about to lose consciousness, she said. A man also stuck in the crowd had his elbow jammed against her windpipe, intermittently cutting off her air, as she remained immobile for at least 30 minutes, she said.
“I thought I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “It was horrible. It was all just a blur.”
“I really doubt I’ll wear those shoes again,” she added. “It’s painful enough to be reminded of the incident all over again.”
Inside the gymnasium, an older woman with purple hair and a young woman in a gray coat carried black plastic bags, their eyes scanning the floor as they repeatedly checked a reference photo on a cellphone. The younger woman checked a wallet she pulled from inside a black leather purse. Then a worker embraced the older woman as she identified a pair of black leather combat boots.
Wearing white rubber gloves, the worker placed the shoes in a white paper bag. The pair filled out paperwork and left the building, the younger one wiping tears from her eyes.
Objects in the gymnasium were laid out on pieces of cloth or tables that represented different sections. One section was almost entirely dedicated to black boots. Others were dedicated to white sneakers or different types of jackets. From a table covered in hats and glasses, a young woman who covered her face with a bucket hat pulled a black beret with two long ribbons hanging from it — a piece of a Halloween costume.
Some of the items revealed the struggle of that night as people’s bodies piled on top of one another, or as some were jammed against alley walls. The entire right side of a cream jacket was covered in dark gray dust. There was a suitcase covered in dozens of bar code stickers, suggesting many trips to the airport. Often, only one shoe was left behind.
“I was really scared to go into the building. I didn’t know what to expect,” said Mikita Shatau, a 21-year-old exchange student from Belgium. He went to the gymnasium Tuesday to recover 10 items for two classmates, including Cano.
“It was a bit creepy because it was so quiet,” he said. “I just saw all the stuff everywhere, and the only thing I was thinking was, ‘Oh, my God, this could be stuff of people who died or who are still very injured.’ ”
Shatau lives in Itaewon and was about to leave his house Saturday when he saw a text sent at 11:32 p.m. to a group chat for exchange students. A friend who had gone barhopping in Itaewon with Cano warned everyone not to go to Itaewon, saying that she had just been rescued from a crowd crush. (The friend suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized with a life-threatening condition.)
Shatau did not know either of the women well but opened his home to them after they had escaped the crowds that night. He watched the scene unfold from his apartment rooftop.
“It was indescribable how loud it was. I just saw red and blue lights everywhere. I have never seen anything like that,” he said. “It’s so weird to say a sentence like this out loud, but I’m so glad that I’m alive.”
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2022-11-02 12:22:00Z
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