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NORTH Korea is such a secretive state that the full extent of yesterday's train disaster is likely to remain a mystery for as long as the totalitarian Government is in power. Pyongyang's reported decision to declare a state of emergency in the crash area was an indication of the severity of the situation. But the nation's sensitivity to how it is perceived by the outside world suggests it is unlikely to deliver a full account of the disaster. The lack of information will spur speculation, particularly as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through Ryongchon station nine hours before the...

A large crater is seen at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), after a catastrophic explosion, April 24, 2004. At least 154 people, including 76 students, were killed and more than 1,300 people had been injured in the blast at the railway station in the town of Ryongchon near the Chinese border on April 22, China's Xinhua news agency said, quoting a senior rescue official. CHINA OUT, NO ARCHIVES, NO SALES REUTERS/Xinhua/Ren Libo A compartment destroyed in the train blast is seen on Saturday April 24, 2004 in Ryongchon County, North Korea (news -...

Two trains that collided triggering a massive blast in North Korea were carrying explosives and not fuel, while casualty figures appeared to be lower than originally feared, an international Red Cross official said Friday. The number of dead was at least 54, and 1,249 people were injured, said John Sparrow, a Red Cross spokesman in Beijing, but he expected the toll to rise as many buildings around the crash site were destroyed. Initial reports had said as many as 3,000 people were killed or hurt. A Thai relief worker, conversely, said the local authorities placed the death toll at 150....

<p>April 24 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations and International Red Cross workers traveled to the North Korean city near the Chinese border where a railway explosion left at least 154 people dead and 1,300 injured. Aid offers poured in.</p> <p>North Korea's media broke its silence on the explosion at a railway depot in Ryongchon, a city of 130,000 people. ``The damage is very serious,'' the government-owned Korea Central News Agency said. It blamed the accident on ``carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer.''</p>

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea (news - web sites) said Saturday that human error contributed to the deadly train explosion near the border with China, and expressed appreciation for offers of international humanitarian assistance. North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, released its first statement about the disaster Thursday, saying the explosion occurred "due to the electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and tank wagons." KCNA said "the investigation conducted so far shows that the damage is very serious." The explosion at a railway station in Ryongchon reportedly killed several hundred...

More Info on N. Korean Explosion Site(A recent defector's take) KBS1 Radio around 1pm in S. Korean time interviewed a recent N. Korean defector(refugee) from Shinuiju, located 10 miles north of Ryongchon, where the massive blast was believed to have killed or wounded 3,000 people yesterday. He says: (1) A lot of cargos are hauled in Ryongchon these days. Other established site like Yongju station does not have enough capacity to handle them all the time. Freight cars which cannot find their parking space are often parked in Ryongchon. Significant part of supplies destined for N. Korea from China went...

BLAST: UN HELP ACCEPTED North Korea has accepted an offer of help from the United Nations after it was confirmed that scores of people were killed and thousands left injured and homeless after a huge rail explosion. The blast is believed to have been caused when wagons carrying dynamite were being shunted into a station siding and came into contact with electric cables. Debris was reportedly hurled up to 12 miles away from the scene in the town of Ryongchon. "Our representative for the World Food Programme in Pyongyang offered UN aid to the North Korean authorities, who accepted," said...

DANDONG, China (AP) — North Korean officials say several hundred people were believed killed in an explosion at a train station in the town of Ryongchon near the Chinese border, the British ambassador to North Korea said Friday. Earlier, a U.N. agency in Geneva said the secrective communist government had acknowledged at least 50 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Thursday's blast that destroyed more than 1,800 dwellings. The statement came as North Korea made a formal request to the United Nations for international help in the disaster.

GENEVA, April 23 (Reuters) - North Korea has formally asked for international help to deal with the aftermath of a train explosion which killed a large number of people and razed a large part of the town of Ryongchon, the United Nations said on Friday. The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the formal request had been received on Friday afternoon.

An image taken on South Korean channel YTN shows flames and smokenear the Ryongchon train station. Photo: AFP The massive blast caused by the collision of two explosives-laden North Korean trains killed at least 150 people and injured 1,249, international aid officials said today, as details of the devastation started to emerge. The toll was expected to rise, with nearly 10,000 buildings destroyed or damaged. North Korea's government said the explosion occurred when train cars carrying dynamite touched power lines, according to Anne O'Mahony, regional director of the Irish aid agency Concern. ``It says 150 people died, including some...

An ammonium nitrate leakage at the origin of the rail crash An ammonium nitrate leakage is at the origin of the rail crash in North Korea, which could have made Thursday 3.000 died and wounded, according to the agency China Nouvelle. "the accident was caused by an ammonium nitrate leakage in one of the trains", according to the Chinese official agency quoting the embassy of China with Pyongyang. The Chinese embassy set up a team charged to provide an assistance to the victims, specified Friday the agency.

DANDONG, China/SEOUL (Reuters) - A collision between two fuel-laden trains in North Korea caused huge casualties, but South Korean officials said on Friday there was no way of immediately confirming reports of as many as 3,000 dead or injured. Doctors at a nearby Chinese border city hospital braced for a major emergency after Thursday's accident at Ryongchon, which sent plumes of acrid smoke billowing over the town and rained debris for miles (kilometres) around. "This accident is likely to have become tremendous in scale," South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun told reporters in Seoul. He said Communist North Korea had...

China has confirmed "a train explosion" in North Korea, saying two of its nationals were killed, 12 were injured and 20 Chinese-owned houses collapsed, state press reported. "The Chinese embassy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea confirmed that two Chinese were killed and 12 others were injured in a train explosion Thursday in Ryongchon," the Xinhua news agency said. It had earlier reported just one fatality. Among the 12 injured Chinese, two were seriously hurt, it said. "Twenty Chinese houses have collapsed and three Chinese houses were blown down in the train explosion," the agency said. China Central Television...

North Korea has released information for the first time on yesterday's explosion in the northwest of the country, which caused many casualties. Reports reaching neighbouring countries have said two trains carrying fuel oil collided at a station in the town of Ryongchon, causing an explosion that killed up to 3,000 people. Speaking to RTÉ Radio from Pyongyang, the regional director of the Irish aid agency Concern, Ann O'Mahony, said North Korean officials had released information about the accident in response to requests from international representatives. The officials said the explosion had been caused by dynamite and they gave much lower...

BEIJING - North Korea is still not admitting what the rest of the world believes - that two fuel trains collided Thursday near its border with China - and as a result, thousands have been killed or injured. The reclusive Stalinist state even went to far as to cut telephone lines to the area in the hope of keeping the disaster secret. Pyongyang has now asked for China's help in dealing with the massive loss of life. South Korea says it is marshaling its resources to help, if the North Koreans will allow it. The South Korean Defence Ministry says...

Report: train carrying many Chinese was at N. Korean train station when two fuel-laden trains collided, exploded (Reuters)

A South Korean news agency reports North Korea has declared a State of Emergency in the region where two trains crashed and exploded. According to media reports, up to three thousand people were injured or killed in the crash between trains carrying oil and liquefied petroleum near the border with China. North Korea has reportedly cut international phone lines to keep news of the crash from leaking out of the country. One witness is quoted as saying the area around the station "has turned into ruins as if it were bombarded." Just hours earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il...

<p>SEOUL, South Korea — Up to 3,000 people were killed or injured Thursday in a horrific train collision and explosion at a station near the Chinese border, according to South Korean news media, just hours after North Korean President Kim Jong Il (search) had passed through the same spot.</p>

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Two fuel trains collided and exploded in a North Korean train station near the Chinese border Thursday, according to South Korean media, which reported large numbers of casualties. One television station said 3,000 people were believed killed or injured. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, reportedly had passed through the station as he returned from China nine hours earlier. It was not clear what caused the crash, or if it was related to Kim's journey. The trains were carrying oil and liquefied petroleum gas, media reported. The crash reportedly took place about 1 p.m....

Report: Trains Explode in North Korea Apr 22, 10:52 AM (ET) By SANG-HUN CHOE SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - As many as 3,000 people were killed or injured Thursday when two trains carrying oil and liquefied petroleum gas collided and exploded in a North Korean train station near the Chinese border, South Korean media reported. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, reportedly had passed through the station as he returned from China hours earlier, South Korea's all-news cable channel, YTN, reported. The number killed or injured could reach 3,000, YTN said, citing unidentified sources on the Chinese side of...