Ryongchon Station
The Ryongchŏn disaster was a railroad accident that took place in the North Korean town of Ryongchŏn on April 22, 2004. The accident
At about 13:10 (4 hours UTC) a flammable merchandise exploded at the Ryongchon train station. Apparently, a train that carried fuel oil collided with two wagons, knocking down an electric pole, which caused a short circuit that caused a terrible explosion. The wagons contained 40 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer for the Pakma-cheol irrigation project. According to other sources, it was an imprudent clash between two trains, one with oil and the other with liquefied natural gas.
The explosion could be heard from China, about 20 kilometers, causing effects similar to those of an earthquake, and created a huge crater 15 meters deep, and the damaged area had a radius of two km. According to other sources, there were two craters, between 8 and 10 m deep. The fireball of the explosion burned buildings within a radius of 600 meters, causing fires. Consequences
As a result of the explosion and fires, 161 people died (including 76 school children), and 1300 were injured. Some 1850 homes and dozens of public buildings (schools, offices, etc.) were destroyed, and thousands were partially damaged, leaving 7000 people without homes, food, water or electricity without hospitals. Given the extreme poverty of the country, due to the bad harvests of the previous decade and to international isolation, the effects of the catastrophe were even more serious.
According to the North Korean government, material damages were between 300 and 400 million euros.
The North Korean government declared a state of emergency in the region, but the secrecy with which it took the situation made it take two days to admit the catastrophe and seek official help from the United Nations.
Several countries, some of which had previously had very tense relations with North Korea, offered emergency aid, such as the European Union, the United States, South Korea, Japan, China, Australia, and others. This aid was hampered by the initial refusal by North Korea to cross the border with South Korea of the aid; this border is one of the most watched in the world, and very rarely is crossed. Thus, until the 26th could not reach the aid from South Korea.
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