UK student dies in South Korea Halloween crush

A University of Kentucky student who was studying in South Korea was one of more than 150 people killed when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul, the school said Sunday.

Anne Gieske, a nursing student from northern Kentucky, died in the crush of people in the Itaewon area of Seoul on Saturday night, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said in a statement posted on the school’s website.

Gieske was studying in South Korea this semester with an education abroad program, Capilouto said. The university also has two other students and a faculty member there, but they have been contacted and they are safe, he said.

“We have been in contact with Anne’s family and will provide whatever support we can — now and in the days ahead — as they cope with this indescribable loss,” the statement said.

The university has nearly 80 students from South Korea, the statement said.



Injured people are helped at the street near the scene of a crowd surge in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. Witnesses said the nightmarish scene intensified as people performed CPR on the dying and carried limp bodies to ambulances, while dance music pulsed from garish clubs lit in bright neon. Others tried desperately to pull out those who were trapped underneath the crush of people, but failed because too many in the crowd had fallen on top of them. A University of Kentucky student was among the victims. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)