Anonymous alleyway in Itaewon was a death trap

The anonymous alleyway in Itaewon where Saturday's crush proved most deadly was a perfect bottleneck.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo visits the alleyway in Itaewon on Monday where the crush occurred. [YONHAP]

The anonymous alleyway in Itaewon where Saturday's crush proved most deadly was a perfect bottleneck.

It goes from 5 meters (16.4 feet) wide to 3.2 meters, a textbook choke point.

The death trap should never have existed in the first place.

Under the law — the Building Act — the road should be wider than 4 meters for the “safety of pedestrians.”

The Hamilton Hotel spills into the alley, extending beyond the outline of the building shown in a construction map registered with the Gwangmyeong City government.

If the construction map had been followed, the alleyway would have been wider.

A structure that provides access to the hotel extends over the survey line and into the middle of the alley, and a metal wall continues down the alley from the end of that structure.

The entrance is built with the same brick as the hotel and includes a staircase that rises up from the alleyway.

The alley is about 36 meters long.

Coming down the hill from Itaewon-ro 27-ga-gil, known also as International Food Street, the first few meters are the full 5.5 meters or wider. It then narrows to about 3.2 meters, before widening to 4 meters just before the alley runs into the main road in Itaewon.

“The Hamilton Hotel is very rare as it is built beyond the building line,” an architect who asked for anonymity said. “The entrance in the middle of the alleyway is definitely illegal construction that has extended beyond the building line.”

A spokesperson from the Yongsan District office explained that the extension may have been built without the urban planning map being adjusted. The Yongsan District office did not respond when asked whether the building is taking up public space and is an illegal building.

According to the law, large buildings such as the Hamilton Hotel should be no closer than 3 meters away from a road.

But this is not the case for the Hamilton Hotel.

“If the space becomes narrower as you come down the alley, it is a fact that the people passing will be slowed due to the bottleneck effect,” said Rie Dong-ho, a safety engineering professor at Incheon National University.

Another architect pointed out, "Even though the building was constructed long ago, the maintenance of the construction should be adjusted to the current law. But no adjustments were made.”

“The wall was built around 10 years ago, but it has never been regulated by the Yongsan District office,” a spokesperson for the Hamilton Hotel said in discussing the metal wall.

A similar wall was located in the area in 2010, according to an online map.

“The wall was not regulated as an illegal building since it is hard to see as construction due to its absence of a roof,” a spokesperson for the Yongsan District office said.

Experts say the district office should have actively ensured safety, such as by removing the wall, considering that the alleyway often gets crowded. The road should have been at least 4 meters wide, they added.

Flowers are placed in the alleyway next to Hamilton Hotel on Sunday, a day after the Halloween crowd crush that took the lives of over 150 people. [JOONGANG ILBO]

“If a 4-meter-wide road was not possible, local authorities should have at least posted a warning sign that it is dangerous if the area gets overcrowded,” said Ahn Hyung-jun, a former architect professor at Konkuk University.

“Construction of the stores on the opposite side of the alleyway should not have been approved if the road is too narrow.”

Some stores on the opposite side of the alley are marked as illegal construction, according to the building ledger.

BY HAM JONG-SUN, KIM WON, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]