23 April 2004 20:12
Russian expert "puzzled" over North Korea death toll
[Presenter] The tragedy in North Korea is the top world news story. Only today did Pyongyang admit that a very
powerful explosion had occurred at Ryongchon station. The town has been almost completely destroyed. Red Cross rescue
workers allowed to go to the scene say that so far the bodies of 100 dead have been brought out of the ruins, and over
1,500 have been injured. Irina Priminova has the details.
[Correspondent, over archive video of people scrambling to board a train, satellite pictures, graphic reconstruction
of accident] This is the town of Ryongchon before the catastrophe. This is the station where a terrible explosion
happened yesterday. These are rare pictures filmed by a (?YTN) cameraman. The trains are always overcrowded, people hang
onto the steps. These are satellite photographs of the same area. The railway line runs very close to the houses. The
scanty information coming from North Korea gives an approximate picture of the catastrophe. The explosion occurred
because live electricity cables came into contact with a number of railway wagons loaded with dynamite, and then fuel
tanks exploded - nearby there were rail tankers loaded with oil and liquefied gas. According to one report, one of these
trains was carrying a gift of fuel to North Korea from Beijing.
There is another scenario, too, namely an act of terrorism. A few hours before the explosion, Kim Jong-il travelled
through Ryongchon in an armoured train on his way back from China. But there is nothing to confirm this suggestion.
The bodies of 100 dead have already been found, and there are over 1,000 injured. Earlier there were reports of
3,000. Experts are puzzled how there could be so many casualties.
[Aleksandr Vorontsov, captioned as head of the Korea department at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of
Oriental Sciences] Frankly, I find it hard to understand how there could be such a huge number of casualties, because
when we travelled along this railway we saw there were no major towns there, along the railway, that is. There may
perhaps have been a large crowd of people at the station.
[Correspondent] Almost 2,000 houses lie in ruins, and another 6,000 and more have been damaged. Dozens of countries
have offered aid, including Russia.
[Passage omitted: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tells news conference Russia will be ready to help; DPRK has
always observed the strictest secrecy, Vorontsov says; correspondent gets nowhere at DPRK embassy in Moscow]
[RTR Russia TV] |
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