South Korea -

During today's fine Sunday morning, some 35-70,000 people crowded in front of the moderately sized park in South Korea for what Lotte World thought would be a routine promotional event. However, trouble soon arose.

Although the promotion of free admission was to continue until around March 31, the event was to honor a staff member who died on the park's Intamin Aqua Trax ride known as Atlantis Adventure on the 6th.

By around 3:30 a.m. or so, thousands of people mainly from the province of Chungcheong waited anxiously in front of the park's four ticket gates. Around 9:00-9:30, the park's opening time, a grand total of nearly 70,000 people had shown up well over many park's legal limits.

Consider now that most Six Flags parks in the United States, by state regulation, allow 45,000 guest and tourist into the park at one time and then close it off until the crowds die down just a smidge. Some on-lookers say that the park was warned several times by the Songpa authorities in the near area warned the park that it should be prepared for what they didn't realize was happening.

In all this uproar and mass of people, nearly 40 people were hurt and sent to the local hospital with various injuries. Since then, the park has told the general public that its free-admission promotional event has been cancelled.

Some 8 million visitors go to this favorite of destinations every year. Lotte World opened its gates for the first time in July of 1989.