I find it really funny that communist governments like China and North Korea think that they can operate like Russia did in the 50s, even in the current world of technology and information sharing. Maybe back when there were no telephones, let alone the Internet, it was easy to not let people know that stuff like this just happened but these days you can pretty much find out whenever someone in DPRNK farts for crying out loud....really, what the hell do they have to gain by keeping something like this quiet? anyone?
From MSNBC.com
N. Korea train collision triggers huge blast
State of emergency reported; thousands said dead, injured
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 11:41 a.m. ET April 22, 2004SEOUL, South Korea -
North Korean authorities declared a state of emergency Thursday in the region where two fuel trains collided and exploded, killing or injuring as many as 3,000 people, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The report did not give details, but said officials of the secretive North Korean government had put in place a "type of state of emergency" around the town of Ryongchon, near the Chinese border.
In a sign of the accident's magnitude, the North Koran government also cut international phone lines to prevent news of the crash from leaking across its borders, Yonhap said, citing no sources.
South Korea's YTN television station reported that up to 3,000 people were killed or injured in the massive blast, which occurred when two freight trains collided in a North Korean station hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through.
Yonhap also reported thousands of casualties from the blast.
Neither media outlet provided a breakdown of deaths and injuries.
The Yonhap report quoted sources in the Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, as saying that trains carrying oil, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas collided at Ryonchon station, southeast of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, which is about 12 miles from the Chinese border.
"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 Sinuiju."
The news agency said the explosion occurred about 1 p.m., roughly nine hours after Kim passed through returning to Pyongyang from a trip to China a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and economic reforms.
YTN reported that the casualities included Chinese living in the North Korean border region, and that Chinese in Dandong were desperately seeking information about relatives who may have been in the area. Chinese and North Korean traders frequently cross the border.
Some of the injured were evacuated to hospitals in Dandong, it said.
Yang Jong-hwa, a spokeswoman of South Korea's Unification Ministry, said the agency could not immediately confirm the reports. The ministry is in charge of relations with North Korea.
The Defense Ministry also said it had no confirmation of the disaster.
North Korea's state-run news agency on Thursday confirmed that Kim had made a secretive trip to China on Monday through Wednesday, but carried no comments on the reported explosion.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
From MSNBC.com
N. Korea train collision triggers huge blast
State of emergency reported; thousands said dead, injured
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 11:41 a.m. ET April 22, 2004SEOUL, South Korea -
North Korean authorities declared a state of emergency Thursday in the region where two fuel trains collided and exploded, killing or injuring as many as 3,000 people, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The report did not give details, but said officials of the secretive North Korean government had put in place a "type of state of emergency" around the town of Ryongchon, near the Chinese border.
In a sign of the accident's magnitude, the North Koran government also cut international phone lines to prevent news of the crash from leaking across its borders, Yonhap said, citing no sources.
South Korea's YTN television station reported that up to 3,000 people were killed or injured in the massive blast, which occurred when two freight trains collided in a North Korean station hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through.
Yonhap also reported thousands of casualties from the blast.
Neither media outlet provided a breakdown of deaths and injuries.
The Yonhap report quoted sources in the Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, as saying that trains carrying oil, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas collided at Ryonchon station, southeast of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, which is about 12 miles from the Chinese border.
"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 Sinuiju."
The news agency said the explosion occurred about 1 p.m., roughly nine hours after Kim passed through returning to Pyongyang from a trip to China a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and economic reforms.
YTN reported that the casualities included Chinese living in the North Korean border region, and that Chinese in Dandong were desperately seeking information about relatives who may have been in the area. Chinese and North Korean traders frequently cross the border.
Some of the injured were evacuated to hospitals in Dandong, it said.
Yang Jong-hwa, a spokeswoman of South Korea's Unification Ministry, said the agency could not immediately confirm the reports. The ministry is in charge of relations with North Korea.
The Defense Ministry also said it had no confirmation of the disaster.
North Korea's state-run news agency on Thursday confirmed that Kim had made a secretive trip to China on Monday through Wednesday, but carried no comments on the reported explosion.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
