Bereaved families and survivors of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush strongly criticized the government's poor handling of the tragedy that claimed 159 lives.

The special parliamentary committee investigating the crowd crush held its second public forum on Thursday at the National Assembly.

A survivor said that if more officials had been dispatched to the site, things would have been different, pointing out the lack of manpower responding to the tragedy.

Bereaved families also slammed the government for its overall follow-up response, saying that no government organizations gave any briefings to the families.

The participants also complained about the ruling bloc, including interior minister Lee Sang-min who did not attend the hearing despite their request.

They blasted the government and the ruling bloc for their lack of willingness to shed light on the incident. One of the bereaved families said that the biggest consolation for the families would be to get to the bottom of the incident and punish all the people who are responsible.

Source: KBS World Radio