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Friday, April 23, 2004
(CNN) -- South Korean officials say they suspect a truck or train carrying flammable gas caused a massive explosion at a North Korean train station.
Up to 3,000 people may have been killed or injured in the disaster, according to Yonhap news agency, quoting officials in Seoul.
Pyongyang has not commented on the incident.
The officials said the casualties were being taken to hospitals in the Chinese city of Dandong and other areas.
Earlier, an official with South Korea's defense ministry confirmed Thursday that a large explosion occurred near Ryongchon station, causing an unknown number of deaths, Yonhap reported.
"We've obtained the information that there was a large explosion near Ryongchon Station," the official said, asking to remain anonymous.
"We have yet to find out the cause of the incident, the kind of explosion and how many died."
China's official Xinhua news agency has reported that one Chinese person was killed and 12 others were injured in the disaster.
Ryongchon is a sparsely populated aread northwest of the North Korean capital Pyongyang and about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the country's border with China.
The area is a hub for trade between North Korea and China and Beijing has reportedly been asked to help with the rescue operation.
Chinese help
"They have already asked for help, but we can't give more details. We must report it to the provincial government," a Dandong city government official told Reuters by telephone.
CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy said the country's poor health care system and lack of rapid response teams will make treating a high number of casualties very difficult.
The Friendship Bridge links North Korea with the Chinese city of Dandong, across the Yalu River.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said a state of emergency had been declared.
Witnesses said the explosion was the result of a collision between two trains at the station, South Korean media reported.
Just hours earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had passed through the station on a return trip from China, South Korean news network YTN said. (Full story)
Kim only travels by train and all rail traffic would have been shut down in the area for several hours before and after he passed through the station, Chinoy said.
Yonhap, quoting unidentified sources in the Chinese city of Dandong, said the trains were carrying oil and/or liquefied petroleum gas.
The incident happened about 1 p.m. local time (0400 GMT), Yonhap said.
"The area around Ryongchon station has turned into ruins as if it were bombarded," Yonhap quoted witnesses as saying.
"Debris from the explosion soared high into the sky and drifted to Sinuju," a North Korean town on the border with China, Associated Press quoted the agency as saying.
Yonhap's report of the state-of-emergency declaration gave no details.
Yonhap said officials of the secretive North Korean government had put in place a "type of state of emergency" around the town of Ryongchon.
(CNN) -- South Korean officials say they suspect a truck or train carrying flammable gas caused a massive explosion at a North Korean train station.
Up to 3,000 people may have been killed or injured in the disaster, according to Yonhap news agency, quoting officials in Seoul.
Pyongyang has not commented on the incident.
The officials said the casualties were being taken to hospitals in the Chinese city of Dandong and other areas.
Earlier, an official with South Korea's defense ministry confirmed Thursday that a large explosion occurred near Ryongchon station, causing an unknown number of deaths, Yonhap reported.
"We've obtained the information that there was a large explosion near Ryongchon Station," the official said, asking to remain anonymous.
"We have yet to find out the cause of the incident, the kind of explosion and how many died."
China's official Xinhua news agency has reported that one Chinese person was killed and 12 others were injured in the disaster.
Ryongchon is a sparsely populated aread northwest of the North Korean capital Pyongyang and about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the country's border with China.
The area is a hub for trade between North Korea and China and Beijing has reportedly been asked to help with the rescue operation.
Chinese help
"They have already asked for help, but we can't give more details. We must report it to the provincial government," a Dandong city government official told Reuters by telephone.
CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy said the country's poor health care system and lack of rapid response teams will make treating a high number of casualties very difficult.
The Friendship Bridge links North Korea with the Chinese city of Dandong, across the Yalu River.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said a state of emergency had been declared.
Witnesses said the explosion was the result of a collision between two trains at the station, South Korean media reported.
Just hours earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had passed through the station on a return trip from China, South Korean news network YTN said. (Full story)
Kim only travels by train and all rail traffic would have been shut down in the area for several hours before and after he passed through the station, Chinoy said.
Yonhap, quoting unidentified sources in the Chinese city of Dandong, said the trains were carrying oil and/or liquefied petroleum gas.
The incident happened about 1 p.m. local time (0400 GMT), Yonhap said.
"The area around Ryongchon station has turned into ruins as if it were bombarded," Yonhap quoted witnesses as saying.
"Debris from the explosion soared high into the sky and drifted to Sinuju," a North Korean town on the border with China, Associated Press quoted the agency as saying.
Yonhap's report of the state-of-emergency declaration gave no details.
Yonhap said officials of the secretive North Korean government had put in place a "type of state of emergency" around the town of Ryongchon.
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