Railway accidents

Citation

(2005), "Railway accidents", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 14 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2005.07314aac.006

Railway accidents

23 March 2004Brazzaville Area, Republic of Congo

A train derailed in the south of the Republic of Congo, killing 31 people and injuring scores of others, a government spokesperson said today. It was unclear what caused Sunday’s (March 21) crash, which occurred about 150 km south of the capital, Brazzaville, government spokesperson Alain Akouala said. The train, carrying food supplies and an unspecified number of passengers, was headed to Brazzaville from the southern Pool region, a rebel stronghold.

1 April 2004Baturaja, South Sumatra, Indonesia

A bus collided with a train in the Indonesian province of South Sumatra early today, leaving at least 12 people dead. The accident occurred in Baturaja town, some 800 km north-west of Jakarta, reported Detikcom online news service. “I was informed that 12 people were killed (in the accident),” Imron Safrizamhi, an employee of the train station in the provincial capital of Palembang, was quoted as saying. He confirmed one of the casualties was the bus driver. It remains unclear the cause of the accident and no official confirmation has been made available so far.

22 April 2004Ryongchon Station, North Korea

Up to 3,000 people have been killed or injured in a huge explosion after two fuel trains collided in North Korea, reports say. The blast happened at Ryongchon station, 50 km north of Pyongyang, South Korea’s YTN television said. The report was based on information from unnamed Chinese sources near the border with North Korea, said news agencies. North Korea rarely reports its own accidents. South Korea’s Yonhap agency said the colliding trains were carrying gasoline and gas, and that they crashed at around 1300, local time. “The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high into the sky,” Yonhap quoted its sources as saying. The agency quoted a South Korean defence ministry official as confirming that the explosion had taken place.

23 April 2004. China has revealed the cause of a train explosion in North Korea was leaking ammonium nitrate, state media reported. “The accident was caused by the leaking of ammonium nitrate in one of the trains,” Xinhua cited the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang as saying. It said the embassy had set up a special team to deal with the accident and was providing “essential assistance” to the victims.

23 April 2004. The International Red Cross says its officials in North Korea have been told that at least 54 people died in yesterday’s huge train explosion. More than 1,200 people were injured, while 1,850 households were totally destroyed in the explosion in Ryongchon, 50 km from China’s border. There has been no official statement from North Korea, more than 24 hours after the catastrophic train collision. Aid agencies and neighbouring countries are preparing to provide help if asked. The explosion was caused by rail cars laden with explosives, possibly to be used in mining, John Sparrow, a spokesman for the International Red Cross in Beijing said. According to figures relayed to him by Red Cross officials at the scene, the explosion also levelled 12 public buildings and partially destroyed 6,350 houses. Details about the scale of the disaster are emerging after hours of silence from the North Korean authorities. One intelligence source told a reporter for the South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun that there was total devastation of the area immediately surrounding Ryongchon station. He said all houses and three- and four-storey buildings in a 160-metre radius of the station were destroyed; other buildings within 600 metres of the blast were severely damaged. South Korean officials had earlier said they feared a large number of people were killed or injured when the two fuel-laden trains collided. “This accident is likely to have become tremendous in scale,” South Korea’s Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said. South Korean media reports talked of up to 3,000 people dead or wounded, but officials in Seoul say there was no way as yet of confirming these figures. South Korean President Goh Kun has ordered humanitarian aid to be prepared in case the North needs help. The World Health Organisation and other aid agencies based in North Korea are also gearing up to help if needed. Doctors at hospitals across the border in the Chinese town of Dandong say they are preparing for a major emergency but have so far seen no victims. The BBC’s Louisa Lim, who is in Dandong, says everything appears utterly normal. Trains are running to Pyongyang as scheduled, suggesting the main line was undamaged in the explosion. The border crossing is open and, looking across into North Korea, our correspondent saw people tending their crops and getting on with their lives as usual. Western embassies in the North Korean capital, said that people in Pyongyang had absolutely no information about the incident, and were shocked when they heard the news. Confirmation of the blast came first from Washington and Seoul. Later, China’s foreign ministry also confirmed the explosion, saying two of its nationals died and 12 others were injured in the blast. A satellite photo from about 18 hours after the blast showed huge clouds of black smoke. The trains crashed at about 1300, local time, yesterday, South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency said. The agency reported that they were carrying petrol and liquefied gas. “The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment, and debris flew high into the sky,” Yonhap quoted its sources as saying.

25 April 2004. China sent supplies across the border into North Korea today in the first aid shipment since a huge train blast killed 161 people and injured hundreds more.

South Korea decided to send goods worth $1 million as soon as possible and to offer medical teams and a hospital ship to North Korea, whose medical system is rudimentary, to help treat those hurt in Thursday’s (April 22) apocalyptic fireball blast. Aid workers initially put the toll at 154 dead and hundreds injured after the explosion of two trains at North Korea’s Ryongchon station near the Chinese border just hours after North Korean leader Kim Jongil had passed through by train. “We have heard from our people in North Korea that the death toll has risen to 161,” said Niels Juel, regional relief coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, today. Scores of primary school children were among those killed. China offered $1.2 million in relief. Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency said a first convoy of 11 trucks crossed into North Korea today.

27 April 2004. North Korea’s official news agency said today damage caused by last week’s massive train explosion will come to about $356 million. KCNA, the North Korea’s official news agency, said homes were blown away, ceilings and buildings collapsed, “reducing everything to ruins” in the area within a half-mile of the explosion on Thursday (April 22). The explosion in Ryongchon left many people blind and deaf, KCNA said. The train explosion in Ryongchon killed at least 161 people and injured 1,300 others.

30 April 2004. In the first inter-Korean cargo flight, South Korea’s Red Cross will transport blankets, medicine and other aid to North Korea today to help the communist nation cope with a devastating train explosion. The relief flight will be in addition to $25 million in building materials, food and other goods Seoul plans to start shipping next week to Ryongchon, the town where the blast killed 161 people and destroyed thousands of homes. A South Korean vessel loaded with instant noodles, blankets and bottled water worth $1 million arrived in a Northern port yesterday after a day-long voyage. South Korea has been quick to respond to the North’s request for help after the April 22 tragedy, although Pyongyang has rejected Seoul’s offer to truck supplies across their heavily fortified border, seriously slowing the transport of emergency supplies. The North also refused to let South Korean doctors go to the area.

6 May 2004. The death toll from last month’s train explosion in North Korea has risen from 161 to 170 but is now unlikely to increase much more, an international aid official who toured the site said. With relief efforts being carried out by hand while machinery sent in as aid stands idle, it was unclear if relief goods and emergency supplies from South Korea were reaching residents of the shattered town of Ryongchon, Tony Banbury, regional director of the World Food Programme, said in Seoul. North Korean officials had given the fresh death toll in the April 22 explosion but had no more details, Banbury said. More than 1,300 people were reported injured in the blast in Ryongchon, near the Chinese border, which was apparently caused by sparks from an electric cable setting off two trainloads of explosives and petroleum and razing much of the town. After an initial refusal to accept any relief by land, North Korea agreed to a shipment of heavy equipment to be delivered over the fortified border. Banbury said there was some heavy machinery at the site but most was unused while the clean-up was being done by hand.

16 May 2004Odessa Area, Ukraine

A freight train slammed into a bus at a level crossing in south-western Ukraine today, killing 15 people and injuring 29 others, the ex-Soviet state’s Emergencies Ministry said. A ministry spokesman said the early morning accident occurred at a village crossing south-west of Odessa equipped with lights and a buzzer but no gate. The train was bound for the Danube river port of Izmail. News reports said the bus, carrying 45 passengers, had stalled on the crossing and was pushed 500 metres down the line before the train came to a stop. The driver, unhurt in the incident, was being questioned by police. There was no damage to the track and traffic was restored later in the day.

16 June 2004Raigad District, Maharashtra State, India

At least 18 people died when a train derailed during heavy monsoon rains in western India, officials say. The passenger train came off the tracks as it crossed a river near the Konkan coast in western Maharashtra state at around 0610, local time, today. Many people are feared trapped in carriages hanging from the bridge in Raigad district, while the engine fell into the river, correspondents say. The train is said to have been travelling from Mangalore to Bombay. Reports said the derailment, between Veer and Karanjadi, 200 km to the south of Bombay, was caused by boulders which had fallen onto the tracks in the rains. The first 11 coaches, including the engine, had gone off the rails, a statement on the Konkan Railway website said. At least 40 passengers were injured in the accident involving the Matsyagandha Express train. They have been taken to a hospital in Mahad, 12 miles from the accident site. Rescue and medical teams were on the scene trying to help trapped passengers. “Many people are feared trapped inside the two coaches hanging from the bridge,” a senior railway official said. But the rains and the hilly terrain were hindering rescue operations. “It is very difficult to approach the accident site. The only approach is through a winding road over the hills,” a doctor at the hospital said. India’s Railway Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, said the route on which the accident happened was prone to landslides.

17 June 2004. At least 20 people have been killed and over 100 injured after a train bound for Mumbai derailed while crossing a bridge. Ten coaches and the engine of the Matsyagandha Express jumped the rails on the western Konkan coast today after the engine crashed into large boulders that had rolled down from the mountainside due to heavy monsoon rains lashing the area. Officials said rescue workers struggled to remove bodies from three coaches that hung from the bridge after the accident that happened in pouring rain about 160 km south of Mumbai. Railway engineers tried to remove the damaged coaches from the tracks to make way for other trains, which were either diverted or cancelled. Officials said the train was headed for Mumbai from the southern coastal city of Mangalore.