SEOUL, South Korea – A North Korean train carrying fuel from China was involved in a devastating explosion Thursday, reportedly causing thousands of casualties and sending plumes of smoke and ash wafting across the Chinese border.
The blast took place near the North Korean town of Ryongchon – about 10 miles from the Chinese border – just nine hours after an armored luxury train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Il passed by the same route, but there were no immediate indications that it was an assassination attempt.
“We think it is an accident, but we are watching and examining,” said a South Korean government official.
A South Korean television station reported as many as 3,000 deaths in the accident, but the government official said the number probably was highly exaggerated.
The accident reportedly occurred about 2 p.m. Hours later, as night fell, a huge fire raging out of control was clearly visible in satellite images distributed by South Korean television.
With characteristic secrecy for which North Korea is famous, the accident was not reported on the nation’s media. And reports from China and South Korea were sharply conflicting and made accounts of the accident akin to a wilderness of mirrors.
In Dandong, the Chinese city on the Yalu River where the train had passed shortly before the explosion, some residents said there was a head-on collision with a passenger train coming in the opposite direction.
Others said that the fuel train alone was involved in the accident and had mysteriously burst into flames on a bridge located between Ryongchon and the larger North Korean city of Sinuju.
“There are lots of rumors flying about,” said a travel agent in Dandong who did not wish to be quoted by name. She also said that the accident was most likely smaller than initially reported. “It’s a very small train station (in Ryongchon), so I doubt the number is that large. We’ve heard about several dozen dead maybe.”
“The area around Ryongchon station has turned into ruins as if it were bombarded,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a witness as saying.
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