Seoul crowd crush: PM and police admit failures as memorial services held

Death toll rises to 156, as authorities admit crowd control measures were inadequate ahead of Halloween disaster in district of Itaewon

South Korea's prime minister, Han Duck-soo, has called Saturday's deadly Halloween crush in Seoul a disastrous accident that should not have happened", as the first memorial services were held amid growing public anger.

Expressing sorrow to bereaved families, he admitted that institutional failures in managing crowds played a role in the disaster, and said the government would work with all ministries, agencies and medical institutions to ensure such problems during spontaneous events never happened again.