foreign victims-Itaewon disaster

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Family members of foreign victims of the deadly 2022 Itaewon crowd crush called for answers and accountability Wednesday as an independent probe into the disaster still remains under way.

At a press conference in Seoul, the bereaved families voiced frustration with the investigation into the crowd crush, which killed 159 people, including 26 foreigners, in the capital's nightlife district of Itaewon during Halloween festivities on Oct. 29, 2022.

"Our lives remain on hold because the investigation and the conclusion is still not completed," Susanne Rosholmen Roalkvam, the mother of Norwegian victim Stine Roalkvam Evensen, said. "I cannot understand why everything continues to take so long."

"We deserve answers. We deserve truth. We deserve closure."

The special panel investigating the disaster announced its interim results Tuesday, finding a lack of adequate safety measures and lapses in the emergency response to the fatal incident.

The results, released ahead of the fourth anniversary of the disaster, fell far short of a final conclusion, with the panel promising further investigation to uncover the truth.

"Even now as we mark the fourth anniversary of the disaster, we demand stern punishment and judgment against those responsible," Hajar Jalal Far, the mother of Iranian victim Ali Parakand, said through an interpreter.

She said the South Korean government had promised the families last year it would transparently share information but that they had been "left in the dark" over the past year as she called for more transparency.

The press conference took place as 35 family members of 18 victims from 10 countries visited the country this week at the invitation of the South Korean government.

As part of their visit, the family members were given access to photos and video footage of the victims' final moments on Tuesday.

Some of the family members shared how painful it was to look at their loved ones' final moments.

Penda Diallo, mother of French victim Limamou Laye Guenego, said it was extremely difficult to look at the images but thanked investigators for sifting through the footage to find her son.

It marked the families' second visit to the country at the invitation of the government. They are scheduled to attend a memorial ceremony to mark the anniversary of the tragedy on Thursday.

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