A crowd crush occurred in a crowded entertainment district in South Korea’s capital as a huge number of Halloween revellers descended on the area and became trapped in narrow streets.

Thousands of people were caught in the crush when they entered a narrow alley in Itaewon, a bar and restaurant district in central Seoul, on Saturday night.

“People were layered on top of others like a tomb. Some were gradually losing their consciousness while some looked dead by that point,” one witness was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

At least 146 people were killed and 150 injured in the crowd crush, said fire department official Choi Seong-beom, who added that the death toll could rise.

Authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.