Seoul crash survivor tried to grab friend's hand before dying in Halloween tragedy

Nathan Taverniti thought he saw his friends' hands among the crowded people, so he tried to grab them, but had to let go after he been crushed by the huge weight of other people in Seoul, South Korea

Taverniti blamed the huge loss of life on the failure of officials to use effective crowd controls (

Image: Ahn Young-joon/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

A survivor of a crowd crush that killed more than 150 revelers in the South Korean capital of Seoul has blamed ineffective crowd controls for his friend's death.

Australian Nathan Taverniti, 24, said he was still dealing with emotional shock after a friend of his died in the Halloween tragedy in the nightlife district of Itaewon.< /p>

In the first unmasked event since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, hundreds of cheering revelers flocked to the area.

The path was obstructed by a huge wave of people moving between the locations and people soon began falling and toppling over each other like dominoes, witnesses said, before dying of suffocation.< /p>

Nathan Taverniti is a 24-year-old Australian who survived a crowd crush (

Picture:

Ahn Young-joon/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

"I was there in front of [the crowd], at a T-junction. There were already so many people in front of me.

"A group of girls fell down and a group of people were trying to help them up. But there were waves of people coming from both sides," the Au...