Ryongchon Explosion Occurred While Transporting Military Cargo? (Syria, WMD Connection)

www.independent.co.kr ^ | 05/07/04 | Yoo Hae-sung

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my translation

Ryongchon Explosion Occurred While Transporting Military Cargo?

Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese Daily, reported on 7th (of May, 2004), "In Ryongchon Blast, Syrian engineers were killed and wounded. A wagon carrying a large cargo had a particularly heavy damage, revealed on 6th (of May, 2004) by a military news source who has great expertise on Korean matters." According to the source, "the content of the cargo is unknown. However, after the accident, N. Korean military personnels in protective suits arrived at the scene, and recovered the remains of the destroyed wagon. We strongly suspect that the accident occurred while transporting a top-secret cargo between N. Korea and Syria."

The paper went on to say, citing the source, "Passengers in the wagon were engineers dispatched from Syria's Scientific Investigation and Research Center(CERS). CERS's goal is promoting science and technology. It is also suspected of a major involvement in the Syria's development of WMD's."

It also reported, "Engineers were in a separate compartment in a wagon from the cargo compartment. It is not clear whether the cargo was the primary source of the explosion or the secondary source after explosion from other wagons. However, it is true that this wagon had the most extensive damage. Close to 10 personnels of both Syrians and N. Koreans were either killed or wounded."

Syrian casualties went home via a Syrian transport plane on May 1st, which was there to pick up the cargo. All personnels involved in the transport (of Syrians), both Syrians and N. Koreans, were again wearing protective suits.

The paper further added, "The behaviors of N. Korea and Syria showed that this cargo is of utmost secret nature, which they never want to disclose. Countries like America suspect that N. Korea and Syria are cooperating the development of Syrian Scud D missiles or chemical weapons."

/end my translation

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See above.

[steve86]

I'm sure that we will see the same grin when I bring up this explosion.

I don't believe that a special op of this nature would take place in a densely populated area. But there is always the chance that a planted charge went off prematurely or late.

Very interesting analysis in this thread. What tiny percent of the population will hear anything about this?

[Wiggins]

Bush is a man with a mission, to defend this country the best way he can until the last breath has left his body.

I agree with you about the Presidents intentions and I support the war on terror, but this apology crap is way out of hand. A covert action like this would save countless American lives both home and abroad. It would also be considerably cheaper then some major military operation. I just have my doubts about it and future operation like this because of all this apology crap beginning with this administration way back when the Red Chinese detained the crew to recon plane all the way up to this latest incident involving the prisoners in Iraq.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Lets see if this works>>>>>

OK

BIIIIGGGG HOOOLES for sure...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See larger picture above.

More than just a railcar went up.

Boot Hill was right.... way to go...

The NK's had cover stories from the gitgo!

[Grampa Dave]

Big Holes indeed!

Things went boom in a big way.

[Grampa Dave]

Or they had no choice re potential wmds being armed or made ready.

See the replies in this thread re accidents in Syria two years ago.

[Grampa Dave]

I worked two summers for railroads.

About once a month some idiot would run into a tank car on the tracks or off on a side spur.

The tank car or cars would explode. I never saw a hole like this. The shock waves went out and up and didn't do much re damage going down.

[Robert A Cook PE]

That sharp, immediate, down + out + up blast (that was (literally!) covered up (immediately!) by the North Koreans bulldozers is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo suspicious.

It can't be what they claim.

[Species8472]

I too have been involved in a couple of tank car BLEVE'S (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions). Other than blowing rails, ties, and rail cars all over the place I have never seen a railbed disturbed like in preceding pictures. The fireball from such explosions are so hot that they rise rapidly into the atmosphere, most of the effect is from radiated heat rather than from the blast.

[FReepaholic]

Here's an interesting image:

Now, were the holes in the large building on the left made by falling debris (rail cars) or explosions???

[Boot Hill]

(in reply to #139 & #144)

"[The photo] have two craters outlined...Primary and secondary explosion's?????

For the benefit of other readers that haven't gone as far as you have in tracking down this stuff...
The photo you posted in your #144 came from this website...

Ryongchon, DPRK Train-wreck and Explosion

That Global Security.com web page contains 24 thumbnail photos, linked to their bigger, original photos. Fully half of those photos (12) are altered versions of photos number one and two on that webpage. The other ten of that set, are software altered blow-ups of those first two primary photos.

Note in particular photos 2, 5, and 12 (the one you posted in #144) and you can see that 5 and 12 are simply artificial (software altered) zoom views of the original photo #2.

If you look carefully at photo #12 that you posted in your reply #144, you can see what appears to be only one crater that is in the process of being filled in by the tractors in such a away that it gives the impression of being two craters. Note the tractors at the top of the pictures and then note the vertical excavation marks extending from the tractors to the crater area.

Take a look below at the B&W satellite picture, which is photo #14 on that Global Security.com web page. It was taken (4/24) two days after the explosion (4/22), but three days before the photo you posted (4/27). Even in this photo, the excavation project has already begun, but notice the difference in the degree of excavation.

Also notice something else kind of interesting in that satellite photo above. Notice to the left of the crater, the railway cars labeled "Rail Rolling Stock". Three days later, in the photo #12 that you posted, they have been removed. (Note also that the three railway cars to the right of the crater are present in both photos.) I think I located a couple of photos of those "Rail Rolling Stock", before they were moved. (The first is a repeat of one already posted by menotyu in reply #101, above) Anyway, here they are...

If you look closely you can see that both photos are of the same set of railway cars, the ones to the "left" of the crater.

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

"Any guess as to the actual strength of the explosion and any ordinance we have in our arsenal?

Given the size of the crater and the damage shown in the photographs to the surrounding area, I suspect that we're talking about a device containing somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-20 tons of explosive. But you would need to adjust that figure up or down by an efficiency factor, once the specific type of explosive material has been determined.

This is the kind of damage I'd expect from a MOAB on steroids.

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

:So the fewer of those slide rule guys, the safer we are."

Hey, I resemble that!

--Boot Hill

[Grampa Dave]

My pardons, I should have said, "So the fewer of those Syrian/NK slide rule guys, the safer we are."

[Grampa Dave]

Great pictures. That is some hole in the ground.

Notice none of these NK's appear to be starving.

That was how our spec ops could tell $oddomite's so called elite troops from the average Iraqi. The so called elites looked like corn fed steers.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for that tidbit. I didn't know that they filled in some of the holes.

[Grampa Dave]

Your description is exactly what I remember seeing when a tank car or two or more blew up. There were no craters. The railbeds were basically left undisturbed. In a couple of cases, the rails were still there with the cross ties burnt out or blasted into the ground. When the tank car debris was hauled away, there was a little re maintenance of the railbeds, and new rails were laid over new railroad ties over the old railway bed.

Your description: "I too have been involved in a couple of tank car BLEVE'S (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions). Other than blowing rails, ties, and rail cars all over the place I have never seen a railbed disturbed like in preceding pictures. The fireball from such explosions are so hot that they rise rapidly into the atmosphere, most of the effect is from radiated heat rather than from the blast."

[Grampa Dave]

That top picture looks like some the bunker buster hits we made in Iraq while trying to take out $oddomite and/or his top thugs.

[Boot Hill]

"Jordan is probably sending their special ops into Syria to cause some similiar problems."

I would take that to include inserting Jordanian undercover agents inside Syrian operations. That could explain how Jordon was so "lucky" as to discover that massive chemical bomb plot last month, in time to prevent it. If this is the case, and I believe it is, then how do we know that the Syrian's reported in the thread article, as being at the scene of the explosion, were not, in fact, Jordanian undercover agents. From what I've learned of the Syrian GID, they would have ZERO qualms about detonating a bomb in a high density urban area, like Ryongchon, if they thought the target was worthwhile.

--Boot Hill