North Korean Train Collision - 3k casualties is initial report

[lawrocket 3]

Saw it on Yahoo news. We're talking a casualty level that is around, and may be more than what we suffered in the 9/11 attacks. Not pleasant, eh? I'm surprised I am the first one mentioning this.

I wonder what the final reported number will be in terms of deaths and injuries. NoKo is notorious for its secrecy, but satellite photos will reveal the extent of the destruction.

Here's the story

***
Fuel Trains Said to Crash in North Korea

By SANG-HUN CHOE, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea - 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. in Ryongchon, a town 12 miles from China. North Korean authorities declared a "state of emergency" in the area, South Korea (news - web sites)'s Yonhap news agency reported.


In another sign of the accident's magnitude, the secretive North Korean government cut international phone lines to prevent news of the collision from leaking across its borders, Yonhap said, citing no sources.


The number killed or injured could reach 3,000, according to South Korea's all-news cable channel, YTN. A YTN reporter in Seoul, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the network's casualty count came from a South Korean government official, whom he declined to identify.


"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 Sinuju," a North Korean town on the border with China, it said.


Cho Sung-dae, a Yonhap correspondent in Beijing, said his reports were based on Chinese sources in the Chinese border town of Dandong who had talked with their relatives in Ryongchon.


They described a massive explosion involving a large number of casualties but could not give figures, Cho told AP in a telephone interview. Cho also said North Korean authorities appeared to be shutting down the border with China after the incident.


Subsequent attempts by his Chinese sources to contact people in Ryongchon failed because the phone lines apparently had been severed.


North Korea (news - web sites) is one of the world's most isolated countries and rarely allows visits by outside journalists. News events within its borders are difficult to confirm independently.


North Korea's state-controlled media is unlikely to provide quick confirmation of such an accident. The communist country's infrastructure is dilapidated and accident-prone. Its passenger trains are usually jam-packed with people, but defectors say they are seldom punctual and frequently break down.


Sometimes, trains are stranded for hours at stations until their electricity supply is restored enabling them to continue on their journey, some defectors say.


YTN, citing an unidentified South Korean government official, said the government in Seoul confirmed a huge explosion in the Ryongchon train station. The official told YTN he believed the incident was an accident, not politically motivated.


Yang Jong-hwa, a spokeswoman of South Korea's Unification Ministry, said her organization could not immediately confirm the reports. The ministry is in charge of relations with North Korea.


The Defense Ministry could not comment, and the Foreign Ministry could immediately be reached.


YTN reported that the casualties included Chinese living in the North Korean border region, and that Chinese in Dandong — a bustling industrial city on Yalu River — were desperate to learn about their relatives.


Some of the injured were evacuated to hospitals in Dandong, it said.





Chinese and North Korean traders frequently cross the border at Dandong.

The accident resembled a disaster in Iran on Feb. 18, when runaway train cars carrying fuel and industrial chemicals derailed in the town Neyshabur, setting off explosions that destroyed five villages. At least 200 people were killed.

North Korea's state-run news agency on Thursday confirmed that Kim made a secretive trip to China on Monday through Wednesday, but carried no comments on the reported explosion.

China, which also confirmed Kim's visit, is North Korea's last major ally, and the two countries' ruling communist parties boast of close ties. But while China's experiments with capitalism have transformed it into an economic dynamo, North Korea suffers chronic food shortages and depends on its larger neighbor for aid.

Kim met with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders and agreed to "push ahead" with a peaceful resolution to the standoff over its nuclear weapons programs, the North's official KCNA news agency and central television network reported earlier Thursday.

The broadcast added that Kim said his government "will continue to be patient and flexible and actively participate in the process of six-nation talks and contribute to making progress at the talks."

The comments were likely to be encouraging to the United States and other countries, who want China to use its leverage as North Korea's leading supplier of food and energy aid to get the country to disarm.

Washington wants Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear facilities, but North Korea has said it doesn't trust the United States not to invade and wants a security guarantee.

The last round of six-nation talks — involving China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia — ended in February in Beijing without a settlement.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[TheAnvil 0]

Wonder if they'll appeal for help to the outside world. Their regime is so erratic it's hard to tell.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[DrunkMonkey 0]

Reports quote Kim Jong-Il at a press conference:

"Well, that's 3,000 fewer mouths to feed!" [/going to hell].

Edit: But seriously, KJI is so fucked up I doubt he cares...He'll blame it on the US or the South Koreans, as he cannot admit his country is a poorly run shithole reminiscent of 1984/Brave New World...

[PhillyKev 0]

Quote

Wonder if they'll appeal for help to the outside world. Their regime is so erratic it's hard to tell.

The article I saw about it said that N. Korea didn't even acknowledge that it happened.

[Michele 1]

How horrible for the victims and their families. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

I would hope, if there is a need, that the NK appeal for assistence. I am beyond certain it would come in floods.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[Muenkel 0]

I'm with you Michele.

I hope the US and the rest of the world sends humanitarian aid. That is if NK will accept it.

Chris

_________________________________________
Chris

[billvon 3,070]

Yeah, heard it on NPR this morning. Hard to imagine the sort of explosion that could kill 3000 people in the open.

[PhillyKev 0]

Actually it was 3000 people killed OR injured. Not sure what the actual death toll is.

[lawrocket 3]

Quote

Yeah, heard it on NPR this morning. Hard to imagine the sort of explosion that could kill 3000 people in the open.

I don't find it that difficult to imagine. Imagine a crowded train station in NoKo. A couple of trains carrying a few cars of oil and petroleum (or some other chemical compund) collide and blow up. The concussion could destroy buildings and other structures if in a densely populated region.

I wonder whether KJI will blame the US for it, insisting it was an assassination plot that missed him by nine hours...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[kallend 2,106]

Quote

Yeah, heard it on NPR this morning. Hard to imagine the sort of explosion that could kill 3000 people in the open.

Well, Bhopal started with an explosion and killed 3,000. Depends what else was on those trains.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Skyrad 0]

3000 dead, and can you guess what the main story was on the news here in the uk? A has been football player looses his job after making a racist comment on TV WTF?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[billvon 3,070]

>3000 dead, and can you guess what the main story was on the news
>here in the uk?

Heck, an earthquake in Iran killed 15,000 people six months ago, and it was only on CNN's front page for two days.

[Skyrad 0]

I wonder if the earthquake had happened in Germany or Canada wether it would have been forgotten so quickly.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[lawrocket 3]

Quote

Heck, an earthquake in Iran killed 15,000 people six months ago, and it was only on CNN's front page for two days.

And you don't believe the American public is particularly uncaring of the useless deaths of foreigners?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[billvon 3,070]

>And you don't believe the American public is particularly uncaring
>of the useless deaths of foreigners?

C'mon, I'm trying to be optimistic here.

[lawrocket 3]

Optimism is nice. I like to have it, as well. Pragmatism is not as pleasant, but provides a clearer outlook.

Jimmy Carter was an optimist in 1977. He was a reluctant pragmatist in 1980.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[markd_nscr986 0]

His supremeness Kim Il Jong was through there several hours earlier on the very same tracks in his special armored train.......coincidence?

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[SkydiveNFlorida 0]

Quote

Quote

Heck, an earthquake in Iran killed 15,000 people six months ago, and it was only on CNN's front page for two days.

And you don't believe the American public is particularly uncaring of the useless deaths of foreigners?

The news stations are not necessarily representative of the feelings of the people. Hell, embarrassed as I am, this is the first time I've heard about it. I heard about the 3000 in NK today on NPR, though. Very sad:(

Angela.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

>And you don't believe the American public is particularly uncaring
>of the useless deaths of foreigners?

C'mon, I'm trying to be optimistic here.

Let's not forget that a lot of US rescue teams were dispatched to Iran after the quake. Many from California.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[lawrocket 3]

Rescue teams? There are two reasons fo that.

The second reason is to assist and help out.

The first reason is to train for the Big One, which, by one account, should be here before September.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Muenkel 0]

Quote

Heck, an earthquake in Iran killed 15,000 people six months ago, and it was only on CNN's front page for two days.

I'm with you Bill. I have complained about this for a long time. So many times there have been natural disasters that have killed 10's of thousands of people, but they don't get the big coverage because they happen in 3rd World countries. Discouraging.

Chris

_________________________________________
Chris

[DrunkMonkey 0]

I disagree. This particular story rated a great deal of attention because of the instability of KJI as a leader and someone with his finger on the nuclear trigger. He's nuts enough to sacrafice his people for propaganda, or to spin this into an excuse for military action (if this was a failed coup d'etat).

The fact that NK could nuke us is what makes this newsworthy to the US.

If the news covered every disaster like this, 29 of 30 minutes would be taken by stories of rickety unsafe infrastructured 3rd world stinkholes having easily preventable accidents killing thousands daily...

NK is dangerous, and its leader mentally ill. That's why we need to know what happened.

[Muenkel 0]

Human life is human life no matter where they live. When thousands are wiped out due to various reasons, I think it is newsworthy.

I think the news organizations could make room for these stories if they spent less time on Ben and Jen or whether or not CBS should have aired the Diana photos.

Chris

_________________________________________
Chris

[Austin 0]

Quote

Edit: But seriously, KJI is so fucked up I doubt he cares...He'll blame it on the US or the South Koreans, as he cannot admit his country is a poorly run shithole reminiscent of 1984/Brave New World...

This is most likely the truest statement in this thread...I had the (mis)fortune of going to N. Korea about three years ago now on a merchant vessel carrying FREE USA grain to North Korea because the World Food Organization deemed it a good idea. Well, the grain was off-loaded from the ship, packaged in white bags with red and blue USA printed on it (I have one of the bags and smuggled a camera to take pictures of the off-loading). The only North Koreans allowed anywhere near the ship to off load the grain were soldiers, and the grain went directly to the army. We heard rumors from some of the South Africans that were working with us that Kim Jong Il was taking the grain, and delcaring it quite a victory that they had stolen this grain........this was two weeks of the most disturbing time of my life that I will probably ever witness.

Austin

[Guest]

Good riddance.

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."