South Korean police have reportedly confirmed that screams from passengers who were watching a livestream by BTS‘s Suga were the cause of a recent commotion on a Seoul subway train.
Yesterday evening (August 6), South Korean police received several reports from passengers on the Seoul Subway Line 9 express train to Gimpo airport. This included over 20 reports of people allegedly getting hurt, a riot, as well as a strange smell on the train, leading to an investigation by police and firefighters, per Yonhap News.
According to SBS News, panicked passengers rushed out of the train upon its arrival at Sinnonhyeon station, causing at least seven passengers to suffer “cuts and bruises” in the evacuation. Police and fire authorities who arrived at the scene confirmed that there was no gas leak and that there had not been a riot on the train.
Following the incident, people claiming to have witnessed the incident shared on social media that the passengers on the train had panicked after fans leaving BTS’ Suga’s concert earlier that evening began screaming while watching the idol on a livestream after the show.
Seoul police have since reportedly confirmed that “the incident occurred when foreigners watching a BTS video in the train screamed”, per SBS News, Daily News and several other media outlets.
BTS’ label Big Hit Music has not commented on the incident at the time of publishing.
This comes after a string of attacks, including a car rampage and two stabbings, occurred in and around Seoul over the past few weeks. Online posts in which users threatened to carry out stabbing attacks at subway stations have also surfaced following the incidents, which has heightened anxiety amongst locals.