By Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) -Transcripts of the 11 emergency calls made in the hours and minutes before a Halloween party crush killed more than 150 people in Seoul reveal the growing fear of revellers and how they had urged the police to intervene.

The transcripts of emergency calls released by the police showed the first warning of a possible deadly surge was made at 6:34 p.m. on Saturday, roughly four hours before the crush turned deadly.

National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun on Tuesday acknowledged crowd control at the scene was “inadequate”, noting that police had received multiple reports warning of possible accidents on the night of the disaster.

The interior minister and the city mayor have also apologised. Proper crowd and traffic control by the authorities could have prevented or at least reduced the surge of partygoers, safety experts have said.

The transcripts, released to media, give a chilling prediction of how the tragedy would unfold.

“Looks like you can get crushed to death with people keep coming up here while there’s no room for people to go down,” a citizen said in that first call. “I barely managed to leave but there are too many people, looks like you should come and control.”

The crush on Saturday night killed 156 people, many in their teens and 20s, and injured another 157 as revellers flooded the narrow alleyways of the popular Itaewon district to mark the first virtually unrestricted Halloween festivities in three years.

Police received 10 other similar calls before the chaos was known to have turned fatal – and released all those transcripts on Tuesday.

The transcripts appear to confirm the accounts of witnesses, who told Reuters they saw some police directing traffic on the main road but few or no officers in the crowded pedestrian alleyways and side streets.

Roughly 100,000 people were estimated to be in Itaewon on Saturday, an area known for its hills and narrow alleys. There were 137 police officers there at the time, the authorities have said.

‘VERY DANGEROUS’

“People are falling down on the streets, looks like there could be an accident, it looks very dangerous,” another caller said at 8:33 p.m, according to the police transcript.

The latest call released by the police came at 10:11 p.m., minutes before people packed into one particularly narrow and sloping alley began to fall over each other shortly before 10:30 p.m.

“(People) will get crushed to death here. It’s chaotic,” the transcript of that call says, noting that screams were heard over the phone.

Police went to the scene for four out of the 11 calls, a police official told reporters. It was not immediately clear why they did not deploy officials on the other calls or what safety measures they took after arriving.

“Those things are all under inspection now, so it’s difficult for me to answer at this point,” a National Police Agency official said when asked by Reuters about responding to four calls.

The official did not elaborate on the contents of the transcripts.

“The police will speedily and rigorously conduct intensive inspections and investigation on all aspects without exception to explain the truth of this accident,” police commissioner Yoon told a news conference earlier.

As police began investigating how so many people were killed, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the probe would also cover whether government agencies’ on-site responses were appropriate.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a week of national mourning, and called for better safety measures to manage crowds even when there is no central organising entity.

The festivities in Itaewon did not have a central organiser, which meant government authorities were not required to establish or enforce safety protocols.

The disaster is the country’s deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi;Editing by Alison Williams)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Six Democratic U.S senators urged the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday to bar airlines from further shrinking the size and leg room of airplane seats.

The senators including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey and Ron Wyden, said airlines have been shrinking seat sizes since at least the 1990s — with seat pitch, which determines leg room, decreasing from 32 inches (81 cm) to 28 inches (71 cm), and seat width decreasing from 19 inches (48 cm) to as little as 16 inches (41 cm).

“We urge the FAA to comprehensively review the safety factors impacting seat pitch, width, and length and ensure that such safety factors take into account the entirety of the American public – including children, senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and others,” the senators wrote to FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen.

“We urge the FAA to immediately prohibit any reduction in size, width, or pitch of seats on airplanes, the amount of leg room per seat, and the width of aisles on such planes until a final rule is issued.”

Airlines for America, a group representing United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and others and the International Air Transport Association said in written comments they believe the FAA should not write regulations setting minimum seating dimensions, arguing the agency “has thoroughly studied seat sizes and concluded that current passenger dimensions and configurations are safe.”

In 2018, Congress said FAA within a year had to issue regulations establishing minimum dimensions for passenger seats – including minimums for seat pitch, width, and length – “that are necessary for the safety of passengers.”

Last month, a U.S. appeals court heard arguments from a flyer advocacy group urging it to order the FAA to set minimum seat dimensions on passenger airplanes. There are no current minimum seat dimensions.

Current rules say airlines must be able to evacuate passengers within 90 seconds but do not set seat size requirements.

In July 2018 the FAA said it would not regulate seat size.

Airlines’ margins could suffer if they had to reconfigure planes and eliminate seats.

The FAA noted Tuesday it had released an aircraft cabin evacuation study in March and opened it for comments in August. The FAA has received nearly 25,000 comments. The comment period expires Tuesday.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio and Chris Reese)

By Aishwarya Nair

(Reuters) -Airbnb Inc forecast holiday-quarter revenue that could fall short of market expectations, saying a strong dollar had started to pressure its business and bookings would moderate, sending its shares down 7% after the bell.

The San Francisco-based vacation rental company posted estimate-beating third-quarter profit and revenue.

But growth slowed to 29% in the July-September period, down from 58% in the second quarter and 67% a year earlier when people started traveling with a vengeance as COVID-19 cases fell and people who were working remotely booked longer-term stays.

Airbnb said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday that it expected a continued, albeit choppy, recovery of cross-border travel as macro conditions persisted.

“This is really kind of a hard year-over-year comp,” Chief Financial Officer David Stephenson told a post-earnings call.

“If you go back and compare back to 2019, we’re seeing stable to increasing demand across the globe.”

The travel industry has seen a big recovery this year on the back of the best summer travel season in three years, but it faces risks from the global surge in inflation.

Airbnb’s shares have slumped more than a third this year, versus a roughly 19% fall in the broader market.

Chief Executive Brian Chesky sought to assuage concerns on the call, saying the company expected “really strong demand” next year, especially from U.S. travelers going to Europe.

Airbnb guided fourth-quarter revenue between $1.80 billion and $1.88 billion, versus analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion, according to Refinitiv.

The company recorded its highest ever third-quarter bookings, with nearly 100 million nights and experiences booked. Average daily rates climbed 5% year-over-year to $156.

The company, which generates half its revenue from listings outside the United States, said the rates were significantly higher excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations.

Major U.S. airlines have pointed to a rise in international trips, especially to Europe, as travelers took advantage of a strengthened dollar. Airbnb said, however, the majority of travelers in North America and Europe had booked domestic stays.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Sayantani Ghosh and Leslie Adler)