QUOTE |
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. https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4806450/ |
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
Yes, I heard this on the BBC just awhile ago, they are still trying to find out what it was... hope it was not a small underground nuke test gone sour.
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 3231 100%
Oh, My goodness, JB! I hadn't even thought about that! It does seem hard to believe that two trains could collide and cause such massive destruction.
It is horrible, no matter what caused it, but if it is something other than two trains colliding, then to me that is even worse because of the deception involved and the way it would appear that innocent lives were put at risk.
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
My day starts so early and I don't read the news at the morning that I didn't know about these terrible news! oh my gosh! how many lives have been lost!. This is something really sad.
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%
This article has a lot of interesting information on what may have really occurred. Whatever happened, it is truly a tragedy.
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3649655.stm
Well, the latest on the news this morning that I heard was less than 200 dead and another 1,200 injured. Still a great trajedy, but not quite on the same scale as it was being reported yesterday.
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
All appearances so far indicate an accident caused by unforseen changes to the train schedule due to Kim Jong-il's unscheduled trip through the area earlier in the day. There are reports that a chemical train brushed up against some high-power electric wires, which caused the explosion.
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 854 85.4%