Apocalyptic scenes in N. Korea

The Red Cross described apocalyptic scenes around the site of a train explosion in North Korea but said yesterday the death toll stood at 154 - far lower than first feared.

North Korea blamed carelessness for Thursday's blast in the town of Ryongchon near the Chinese border, which sent debris flying for miles and caused damage four km away.

China's Xinhua news agency quoted Korean official Jang Song-gun, in charge of rescue efforts, as saying 154 people had been confirmed dead, including 76 primary schoolchildren. South Korean media, quoting witnesses and Chinese sources, had initially reported up to 3,000 people killed or injured.

The explosion gouged a massive crater 50 metres deep where the railway depot used to be and destroyed a school and hundreds of homes, foreign aid workers, who were led around the blast site by government officials, said on their return.

Describing the crater, Rose Dew, country director for Dublin-based relief agency, Concern, told Reuters: "It's about 50 metres deep, but was probably deeper." Dew said rescue operations appeared to be over as she did not see any people searching for bodies.

The blast occurred just hours after a train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il home from Beijing passed through Ryongchon. Kim had been talking with Chinese leaders about the protracted nuclear weapons crisis which has focused world attention on Pyongyang.

"The blasts occurred... due to a short circuit when an electrical pole nearby was knocked down after an oil tanker collided with two carriages loaded with ammonium nitrate fertiliser during the shunting of wagons," Jang said.

A North Korean state news agency report said the blast had occurred during the shunting of a train carrying chemical fertiliser and tank wagons. It gave no death toll but described the damage as "very serious".

John Sparrow, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he believed the number of 154 people could be the final toll, though more than 1,300 others had been injured. His impression was that the rescue operation was complete and had been handled well.

International relief teams descended on the area and offers of aid flowed in response to an unprecedented appeal from the fiercely independent and secretive North Korean state. At the Chinese border town of Dandong yesterday, relatives of tourists on a group trip to North Korea waited anxiously for their return.

South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun announced immediate emergency aid of $1 million and said Seoul relief officials would meet their North Korean counterparts tomorrow at Panmunjom, the truce village set in the Demilitarised Zone between the two rival states.

For its part, China - the North's giant neighbour and closest ally - offered $1.2 million in relief and President Hu Jintao telephoned Kim to offer his condolences. Chinese aid, to include medicine, medical equipment and tents, would be sent in a few days, the agency said. The Korean People's Army had also joined rescue efforts.

An intelligence source in South Korea said there was no hint of sabotage or of an attempt on Kim's life.

The United States, which once bracketed North Korea with Iran and pre-war Iraq in an "axis of evil" and is the main protagonist in the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear programme, said it was willing to help with the disaster relief.

Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency said the government appreciated the "willingness expressed by the governments of various countries and international bodies and organisations to render humanitarian assistance".

¤ The Labour Party yesterday urged the government to join the international community in offering help to North Korea following the recent explosion. Foreign Affairs spokesman Leo Brincat said the party was expressing its solidarity with the government and people of North Korea in such a difficult moment.