In tears, Philomene Aby asked staff members at a South Korean community centre whether they had heard anything about her son, 22, who was reported missing after a mob surge left at least 151 people dead in Seoul on Saturday. Around six o’clock on Saturday, her son Masela left for work at a club in the city’s Itaewon district. Aby, an Ivory Coast native living in Seoul, last saw him at that point.
Aby told Reuters while standing inside the Hannam-dong Community Service Center, which served as a temporary missing people centre in the wake of the tragedy, “I called his number but … he wasn’t answering,”
Hundreds of distressed people looking for information on their ancestors were assisted by bureaucrats who usually deal with birth certificates or home registrations.
Numerous desperate calls to find missing people were answered by officers at the contact centre, who manned the emergency phone lines.
According to a Reuters witness, one person sobbed and fell to the ground after conversing with several centre employees. More than 3,580 calls have been placed since 5:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to an hourly report on a white board at the main office.
Aby, who has been living in Seoul with her son for 18 years, claimed that “no one is telling me the truth.” Aby departed the centre for the Ivory Coast embassy when there was still no word about the son.
At a briefing at noon local time (0300 GMT), Interior Minister Lee Sang-min stated that around 90% of the victims had been recognised and officials were still working to identify the other 10%.
He pointed out that it takes longer for teenagers or foreign nationals who haven’t registered with the government, in which case they have to contact the families directly.
