The Korean National Police Agency has released transcripts on Tuesday of the 112 calls made on the day of the Itaewon crowd crush, revealing deficiencies in the police response.

According to the transcripts, the first 112 call concerning the accident came at 6:34 p.m., some four hours before people began to fall and knock each other down while swarming down a tightly packed narrow alley in a district famed for its Halloween weekend festivities.

The transcripts showed that the police received a total of eleven calls in the four hours leading up to the crowd crush, all voicing concerns of a potential disaster.

The police dispatched officers in response to four of the pleas, while six others received replies that police were already on the scene with no further action taken. The police said they could not understand the last caller and were thus unable to respond.

It was further revealed that the police failed to take appropriate action despite a “code zero” tag on one of the calls, the highest on the five-tier 112 response system requiring the most expedient dispatch of officers, while seven other calls were designated “code one," calling for a swift dispatch. 

The transcripts are expected to spark further public outrage, calling into question whether the inadequate response by the police exacerbated the tragedy.