Upwards of 3000 killed in North Korea train crash

[Guest slacklet]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...09&section=news

 

Thousands Dead or Injured in N.Korea Rail Blast-YTN

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - Up to 3,000 people were killed or injured when two trains loaded with fuel collided and exploded at a North Korean station Thursday, hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through, South Korea's YTN television said.

 

YTN quoted witnesses in its report while South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which spoke of widespread destruction, also said there were thousands of casualties. Neither Yonhap nor YTN gave a breakdown of deaths and injuries.

 

Yonhap quoted sources in the Chinese city of Dandong that borders the North as saying the explosion occurred around 1 p.m. -- nine hours after Kim's special train was reported to have passed on its way back to Pyongyang after a visit to China.

 

"The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high into the sky," Yonhap said, quoting the unidentified Chinese sources.

 

The sources said cargo trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas collided at Ryonchon station 30 miles south of the border.

 

Yonhap also quoted a senior Defense Ministry official as saying the South's military -- which eavesdrops on North Korea -- had heard about the blast through "intelligence channels directed against the North."

 

There was no immediate suggestion the blast was anything other than an accident. But the explosion came after Kim met China's new leadership during a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and tentative economic reforms.

 

North Korea appears to have cut international telephone lines to the area to prevent information about the explosion getting out, Yonhap added. The North appears to have declared a type of emergency in the area.

 

"We have not yet received official information on the accident. We are trying to confirm the report," a Unification Ministry spokesman said in Seoul. Other officials at various government agencies also had no information.

 

Yonhap said the sources said people in Dandong were concerned their friends or relatives could have been caught up on the explosion. Traders from both sides criss-cross the border area.

 

A railway worker on the Chinese side of the Dandong border crossing told Reuters he had not heard of a blast and had seen no signs of any emergency effort under way.

 

"The closest station to here in North Korea is in Sinuiju (on the border), and I would have heard it. But I didn't hear anything," he said by telephone.

 

North Korea's official media broke their silence on Kim's three-day trip to Beijing Thursday -- strongly suggesting Kim was safely back in Pyongyang -- but did not mention the explosion. Kim does not travel by air when he does venture outside North Korea.

 

Residents in Pyongyang said by telephone there was nothing unusual in the capital. North Korean television was broadcasting military songs and music -- standard evening fare.

 

Damn.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Something tells me that there will be a bit more unrest in North Korea.. compared to the usual

[Styles 0]

Is it wrong of me to be most upset that Kim Jong Il passed through the station before hand missing the explosion by just hours?

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

Turns out the death toll only got up to 161.

Linkzilla

[Skywarp! 0]

Is it wrong of me to be most upset that Kim Jong Il passed through the station before hand missing the explosion by just hours?

Some are wondering if it was a type of assassination attempt.

[BX 0]

Shitty assassins.

 

Imagine if Booth had been nine hours late getting to the Ford Theatre.

[Skywarp! 0]

Now it's just being called a plain-ol' accident.

[Guest hunger4unger]

Something isn't right about it though. The president passing by shortly before the explosions is too much of a coincidence for my liking. Blasts in Iran..now North Korea....within six months maybe a train blast in Syria?

[BX 0]

Worst conspiracy theory ever.