Train Accident in North Korea

The Charter was activated following a train explosion which occurred Thursday, 23 April 2004 at 12:10 local time. The initial report of Agence France Press follows.

"At least 150 died and 1,000 people were injured in the railroad catastrophe in North Korea, which was caused by an explosion of dynamite, said an official of an Irish non-governmental organisation based in Pyongyang. The North Korean authorities "told us that 150 people were killed by the explosion, including schoolchildren, and that buildings collapsed, that 800 houses were destroyed and 1,000 people injured", said Ann O'Mahony, regional director of "Concern", a non-governmental organisation. The Red Cross estimated initially that 54 people died and 1,249 people were injured. The accidental detonation of a load of explosives is at the origin of the catastrophe which took place Thursday in a North Korean railway station, said North Korean sources. Workers separating two wagons loaded with dynamite in order to hook them to another train accidentally hit electric wires overhead, causing the explosion, said Mrs O'Mahony, quoting North Korean authorities. While preliminary information from South Korean medias initially attributed the accident to the collision of two trains loaded with fuel oil, a United Nations official, quoting the North Korean government, indicated to Agence France Presse that it was not a collision but "the detonation of two wagons loaded with explosives, dynamite probably, when they hit electrical wires after changing tracks."

According to latest reports, a zone 800 meters in radius was levelled by the explosion. The death toll had reached 161 by Sunday 25th April, according to North Korean authorities. North Korea has officially called for international assistance (Sources: OOSA, Associated Press).