As Brendan was trapped in a crowd crush during Halloween celebrations in Seoul on Saturday, he knew he had to keep standing or risk death.
The international student had realised just moments earlier that the streets had become dangerously claustrophobic — but by then it was too late.
He was forced to shuffle down an alleyway as the huge force of bodies continued to push him through the nightclub district of Itaewon.
"People were falling in front of me," he said.
"I said to myself to not fall, because if I fall, it's done."
Eventually the pressure became too much, and a wave of people collapsed over him, like dominoes falling.
For an hour he lay trapped under a pile of bodies.
Emergency services pulled on his arm but he wouldn't budge.
Under him was another young woman.
Brendan had to push himself up from the ground to allow her to breathe and keep her calm.
"It was like a nightmare," he said.
"I just had to keep calm and concentrating on my breathing."
Brendan requested anonymity because he had not revealed to his family in his home country the true extent of his ordeal.
Instead, he came to a makeshift memorial just metres from the site of the tragedy to speak with others who shared similar experiences.
Pear, an international student from Thailand, had sought refuge from the crowd crush inside a bar.
She emerged to find bodies strewn everywhere. Pear performed CPR on an unconscious woman for 30-minutes, but to no avail.
Pear acknowledged the woman's fingers had turned purple before she started CPR, meaning she was likely too far gone.
But at the memorial, she broke down in tears, wracked with guilt.
"I'm the only one who held her, but she still died. I want to apologise."
South Korea begins investigation, but few answers may be found
All 155 victims of the crowd crush have now been identified, including Australian Grace Rached, a Sydney film production assistant, who was described by her loved ones as "our life of the party".
"We are missing our gorgeous angel Grace, who lit up the room with her infectious smile," her family said in a statement.
The 23-year-old Sydneysider was among 100,000 people who descended on Itaewon, a popular nightspot in Seoul made up of narrow alleyways that loop around a steep hill.
Ms Rached was one of 26 foreign nationals killed when crowds became trapped in two tight alleys that measured just four metres wide at some points.
The South Korean government has set up 17 altars across the country for people to pray and pay their respects.
"It's so awful," said Eva, who attended a makeshift memorial.
"I just can't imagine what parents and families are going through right now. I just felt maybe it would be alright if I'm [at the memorial]."
South Korean police are now trying to figure out what caused the disaster, launching a 475-member task force to investigate.
Authorities say they have obtained videos from 52 security cameras in the area and have spoken with 44 eyewitnesses.
"The government will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and do its best to make necessary improvements of systems to prevent a similar accident from recurring," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said.
However, it is unlikely anyone will be charged over the incident as Halloween festivities in Itaewon have no official organisers.
Authorities said they dispatched 137 officers to maintain order on Saturday night, a much larger deployment than the 90 officers sent in previous years.
They also denied reports that that the local police station was understaffed because it was providing extra security for Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol Yoon, who recently moved his office to a site near Itaewon.
