Car ploughs into crowd in Seoul killing at least nine people

At least nine people died and four others were injured after a car ploughed into pedestrians in the downtown area of the South Korean capital of Seoul .

The crash happened at an intersection near Seoul City Hall , a typically crowded metropolitan street, at around 9.27pm local time, police said.

A man believed to be 68 years old was driving the vehicle that ran into pedestrians waiting at a traffic stop, according to Yonhap news agency.

Police said the man, who was not named, has been arrested and will be investigated on allegations of accidental homicide.

The driver told investigators that his car accelerated abruptly and unintentionally.

His car would be sent to the country’s forensic agency for an examination, police said.

Of the nine fatalities, six died at the scene while three were rushed to a hospital with cardiac arrest and were pronounced dead by the hospital.

Visuals from the site of the crash showed a black sedan car that was heavily damaged being towed away. The guardrails on the side of the road were flattened to the ground.

Seoul police said the man was driving the car in the wrong direction and collided with two other vehicles before fatally crashing into pedestrians.

According to preliminary investigation, the crash was caused by unintended acceleration and the driver was not found under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxication in an initial examination.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the Interior Ministry to make “all-out” efforts to treat the victims of the crash.

Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon called it a “tragic incident” and ordered an investigation.

Arriving at the scene, Mr Oh issued directives to minimise further casualties and prepared measures for bereaved families.

He ordered to “take the victims to the hospital quickly and thoroughly identify the cause of the accident”.

According to reports, the man was a bus driver from Ansan, a city just south of Seoul and had around 40 years of driving experience.

In 2022, 35 per cent of all road deaths accounted for the deaths of pedestrians, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The road fatalities among pedestrians were highest among OECD countries but the report said the trend was on the decline in recent years.

The incident comes as another tragedy in South Korea just a week after 23 people were killed and many were injured in a fire at a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong city, a major industrial cluster about 90 minutes southwest of capital Seoul.