The Ryongchŏn disaster was a train disaster that occurred in the town of Ryongchŏn, North Korea near the border with China on April 22, 2004. Notable historic train accidents: 1830s September 15, 1830 – William Huskisson becomes first ever passenger train death. ... Ryongchŏn is a city in North Korea. ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... It has been designated the: International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO) 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization) Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in...

The disaster occurred when a flammable cargo exploded at the railway station at about 1300 local time (0400 UTC). The news was broken by South Korean media outlets, which reported that up to 3,000 people had been killed or injured in the blast and subsequent fires. The North Korean government declared a state of emergency in the region, but little information about the accident has been made public by the notoriously secretive government. Shortly after the accident the North Korean government cut telephone lines to the rest of the world (an action correspondents attributed either to a desire to inhibit foreign reporting or to prevent their own population from learning unfavourable news about the accident). Passengers bustle around the typical grand edifice of Londons Broad Street Station in 1865. ... Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time or Z, is an atomic realization of Universal Time (UT) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the astronomical basis for civil time. ... Motto: 널리 인간 세계를 이롭게 하라 (Broadly bring benefit to humanity) Anthem: Aegukga Capital Seoul Largest city Seoul Official language(s) Korean Government President Prime Minister Presidential democracy Roh Moo-hyun Han Myung-sook Establishment - Gojoseon - Declaration of Republic - Liberation - First Republic 2333 BC March 1, 1919 August 15, 1945 August 15, 1948 Area  - Total... A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. ...

Effects of the disaster

The Red Cross was allowed into the area, in an unusual concession from the North Korean authorities, becoming the only outside agency to see the disaster area. According to the agency, 54 people were killed and 1,249 were injured in the disaster. A wide area was reported to have been affected, with some airborne debris reportedly falling across the border in China. (Satellite pictures published by the BBC purported to show widespread damage in the town, but these were later retracted—they actually show the town from an earlier date, and the strong black-white contrast was mis-interpreted [1].) The Red Cross reported that 1,850 houses had been flattened and another 6,350 had been damaged or partially destroyed. A school, the railway station, and several apartment blocks were also said to have been razed to the ground. The Anarchist Black Cross was originally called the Anarchist Red Cross. The band Redd Kross was originally called Red Cross. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting corporation of the United Kingdom (see British television). ...

On April 23, the United Nations received an appeal for international aid from North Korea's government. The next day, a few journalists were allowed into the country to report on the disaster. April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ... United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ...

How and why the accident happened

The cause and nature of the accident have been the subject of considerable confusion, with several different accounts being reported. (But, It mainly happened because of Ammonium Nitrate Explosion Accident)

How the disaster happened

There are several different accounts of what occurred:

• It was initially reported that the explosion was the result of a collision between two trains carrying gasoline (petrol) and liquified petroleum gas, possibly donated by China to alleviate the ongoing North Korean fuel shortage.

• Diplomats and aid workers in North Korea later suggested that the explosion took place when explosive materials (possibly dynamite or some form of gunpowder) were being shunted in rail cars, possibly being triggered by a collision with a live electric power cable. This is corroborated by reports by North Korean officials to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, and by government sources to Japan's Kyodo news service. The material was said to be intended for use in canal construction.

• The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that there had been a leak of ammonium nitrate, a substance used in some explosives, as a fertilizer, and in rocket fuel.

KCNA, the state news service, apparently confirmed the Xinhua report by stating the incident was "due to the electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium-nitrate fertilizer and tank wagons." Gasoline (or petrol) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... 45 kg LPG cylinders Liquified petroleum gas (also called liquefied petroleum gas, liquid petroleum gas, LPG, LP Gas, or autogas) is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as a fuel in heating appliances and vehicles, and increasingly replacing fluorocarbons as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant to reduce damage to... Dynamite recovered in a mine in Eastern Oregon. ... Smokeless powder Gunpowder, whether black powder or smokeless powder, is a substance that burns very rapidly, releasing gases that act as a propellant in firearms. ... ITAR-TASS (ИТАР-ТАСС), Information Telegraph Agency of Russia, is the major news agency of the Russian Federation. ... Not to be confused with Kyoto Kyodo News (共同通信社) is a nonprofit cooperative news agency based in Minato-ku, Tokyo. ... The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France. ... Front gate of the main building of Xinhua News Agency in Beijing The Xinhua News Agency (Simplified Chinese: 新华社; Traditional Chinese: 新華社; pinyin: ), or NCNA (New China News Agency), is the official press agency of the government of the Peoples Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and... RTECS number BR9050000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Fertilizers or fertilisers are compounds given to plants with the intention of promoting growth; they are usually applied either via the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar spraying, for uptake through leaves. ... Rocket fuel is the propellant which is burned with an oxidizer to produce thrust in rockets. ... KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) is the state news agency of North Korea and has existed since December 5, 1946. ...

Reading between the lines, one conclusion is that an explosive made from ammonium nitrate was being transported by rail. Under this explanation, the explosive (maybe a form of ammonium nitrate fuel oil, or ANFO) was probably intended for canal construction, and various officials must have confused this with other explosives and pure fertilizer in their differing accounts. ANFO stands for Ammonium Nitrate / Fuel Oil (most often diesel fuel, sometimes kerosene). ...

If that is the case, the question of how the explosion was started remains, as these explosives need a significant initiation before they will explode, usually achieved with other explosives and a detonator. However, there have been several major events where ammonium nitrate has ignited and exploded while being handled and transported. For instance, the Texas City disaster of 1947 involved an explosion of 7,000 tonnes of the substance after it started on fire. A detonator is a device used to trigger bombs, shaped charges and other forms of explosive material and explosive devices. ... The Texas City Disaster of April 16, 1947, started with the mid-morning fire and detonation of approximately 17,000,000 pounds (7,700 tonnes) of ammonium nitrate on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp in the port at Texas City, Texas. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... A tonne (symbol t), sometimes referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of weight. ...

Why the disaster happened

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through the station several hours before the explosion as he returned from a secretive meeting in China. It was suggested that the explosion might have been an assassination attempt, but this was treated with widespread scepticism. A popular conjecture is that one of the trains involved was carrying fuel from China, possibly a shipment that Kim had requested. If the incident did involve a train collision, it has been suggested that the cause of the accident may have been a miscommunication related to the changes in train timetables due to Kim Jong-il's itinerary. Kim Jong-il (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of North Korea. ... A timetable is an organized list or schedule, usually set out in tabular form, providing information about a series of arranged events: in particular, the time at which it is planned these events will take place. ...

Other observers have suggested that the poor state of North Korea's railway system may have contributed to the disaster. It accounts for about 90% of freight transportation, with a lack of fuel forcing most trucks and other vehicles off the road. The railroad, built by the Japanese forces that occupied Korea during World War II, is reported to be in poor repair, with aged rollingstock running no faster than 40 mph or 65 km/h (in part due to poor electrical supply, again caused by the country's fuel shortage). Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead:17 million Civilian dead:33 million Total dead:50 million Military dead:8 million Civilian dead:4 million Total dead:12 million World War II...

North Korean government response

The unusually frank admission of the accident by North Korean government might have been a sign of a thaw in the grip of the bureaucratic communist government on the impoverished country. When the country suffered droughts in the early 1990s, bureaucratic inertia and reluctance to admit failure led to delays in requests for foreign aid and the deaths of millions from the famine. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

See also

• List of Korea-related topics

This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ...

External links

• Mystery surrounds N Korea blast (BBC)
• New theory on N Korea rail blast (BBC)