North Korean Train Accident: 3000 Injured

[jutl]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3649655.stm

This is really odd. Reported on South Korean cable, so they may be making the worst of it for propaganda reasons...

"The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high into the sky,"

As many as 3,000 people were killed or injured Thursday when two trains carrying oil and liquefied petroleum gas collided and exploded in a North Korean train station, South Korean media reported.

[zozman]

Crikey!  Who's going to be first to blame Osama?

[Evil Knevil]

Crikey!  Who's going to be first to blame Osama?

I don't think so. The North Koreans probably treat Arabs as a kind of rare delicacy.

[Geej]

It was Osama!!!

(Not really - but I wanted to be the first to blame him!)

3,000 people is a bit high isn't it?  What do you reckon it will settle on?

[smoker]

could have been a targeted missile strike at kim, he was there nine hours previous. us intelligence is not infallible. maybe the americans were taking a calculated risk that the n.korean generals would decide not to retaliate.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Identifying the bodies will be a nightmare.  "Ah tink it's Chang, but ah can be certain, cos we arr rook so arike, don we."

Ron Atkinson told me to say that.

[Krang]

*sniggering at PLC's post*

[fanny splendid]

Identifying the bodies will be a nightmare.  "Ah tink it's Chang, but ah can be certain, cos we arr rook so arike, don we."

Ron Atkinson told me to say that.

That's where your problems start. They only have about two hundred and fifty surnames in Korea, so it's a pretty good bet that one thousand of them are called Kim, and another thousand called Park.

[Partridge's Love Child]

They're spelled "Kim" and Park", but they're all pronounced dead.

[fanny splendid]

Heh, heh, heh!

Lovely!

[untitled_london]

oh dear,
and theres me of colour - spouting off in the racist thread right next to this one - giggling like a bitch @ PLC

when will i learn?

[Partridge's Love Child]

and theres me of colour - spouting off in the racist thread right next to this one - giggling like a bitch

Sexist pig.

[Purple Tentacle]

I'm glad Osama targetted those North Koreans, staunch supporters of the west and the war on terror.


Anybody who seriously thinks it's Osama deserves a slapping.

[Alberon]

The only apparent North Korean reaction was to cut the phone lines in the area and not say anything, but this has seriously fucked a vital piece of infrastructure that was already in a serious state of disrepair (not forgetting all those injured and killed).

That country is slowly falling apart and all the aid the world is giving North Korea to not explode won't help forever.

Does anyone know of any really good books on the world's only Communist Monarchy?

[Pinball]

Anyone would think that N Korea is in economic meltdown with resultant infrastructural consequences.

But not me. Everything's fine and all is well
<reaches for some more happy pills>

[untitled_london]

and theres me of colour - spouting off in the racist thread right next to this one - giggling like a bitch

obviously i meant giggling like a hyena bitch


;)


*phew: just enough room to manouevre*

[sproggy]

Our correspondent says another theory is that the liquefied petroleum gas carried in one of the trains was a gift from China to North Korea after Mr Kim's visit to Beijing.

I bet he wishes he'd accepted the engraved crystal decanter and glass set instead now.

[Partridge's Love Child]

they may be making the worst of it for propaganda reasons...

Indeed.  Still a tragedy, but 54 is different from 3,000.

BBCi[/url]"]The International Red Cross says Thursday's huge train explosion in North Korea killed at least 54 people.
In the first independent account of the disaster, Red Cross officials at the scene say more than 1,200 people were injured and 1,850 houses destroyed.

[fanny splendid]

It's not gas, now it's dynamite. Apparently they were changing the carriages to a new engine, when a boy with a frisbee threw it accidentally into a sub station, and when he tried to get it back, the resultant sparks caused an explosion.

Or something like that.

[Alberon]

they may be making the worst of it for propaganda reasons...

Indeed.  Still a tragedy, but 54 is different from 3,000.

True, though the South Koreans reported that up to 3000 may have been killed or injured, they didn't say 3000 dead. The South Koreans are trying to keep cordial relations with their northern neighbour so I doubt they'd try to make it look worse than it appeared to be.

I'd expect that death total to go up in the next few days, though. I wonder how much access the Red Cross is getting?

Whether it's 30 or 3000 the numbers are insignificant compared to the millions who died in the famines in N Korea over the last couple of decades.

[mitzidog]

It was a planned explosion to celebrate the passage of the glorious leader and clear the way for a new "Station of the Revolution" in the shape of the lower colon of our glorious immortal leader from heaven Kim Jong (licensed to) Ill

[Neville Chamberlain]

It was a planned explosion to celebrate the passage of the glorious leader and clear the way for a new "Station of the Revolution" in the shape of the lower colon of our glorious immortal leader from heaven Kim Jong (licensed to) Ill

Shit! Are you serious? That's fucking scary if it's true.

[fanny splendid]

According to S. Korean news agencies, and the aid workers in Pyongyang, it was indeed an electrical spark from overhead wires which caused the explosion.



At least I'm getting to practise my Korean...

[hencole]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3651705.stm

Apparantly power line down and large amounts of dynamite are now suspects.
With just shy of 2,00 houses destroyed and 3,500 seriously damaged I would be very suprised if the figure was not into the thousands for the casualties.

[Alberon]

CNN is now reporting at least 100 died.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/04/23/nkorea.train/index.html

There was apparently no organised disaster response (surprise surprise) so it's going to make treating the 1200 injured very difficult.

[Bilko]

3000 people on a train surely someone will get crushed, it's an accident waiting to happen.

[chand]

they may be making the worst of it for propaganda reasons...

Indeed.  Still a tragedy, but 54 is different from 3,000.

True, though the South Koreans reported that up to 3000 may have been killed or injured, they didn't say 3000 dead. The South Koreans are trying to keep cordial relations with their northern neighbour so I doubt they'd try to make it look worse than it appeared to be.

It's always difficult to say, I remember at one point on Septermber 11th people were talking about 40-50,000 dead, then 30,000, then for a couple of days it settled around 10,000, then 5,000, then finally 3,600.

But yeah, sounds like 3000 could have been injured.