‘Called police twice, but no help arrived'

NEW YORK: A middle-school student who was in the Halloween crowd said she and her friends twice called the police asking for help, but did not see any officers respond before the crush became fatal.
Seo Na-yeon, 14, said that the size of the crowd already felt dangerous when she got to the Itaewon neighbourhood at around 6pm.
The alleyway was completely full of people at the time, she recalled. She and her friends first called 112, the police emergency line, soon after they arrived to report that there needed to be some traffic control, Seo said in a phone interview. Seo saw police officers who appeared to be cracking down on street vendors hawking costumes and headbands, but none of them seemed to be managing crowds, she said.