The train that was climbing the steep hill in the snow was pushed back due to a lack of power.
Seven cars on the Pyongyang-Geomdeok train crashed into a valley, killing most of the passengers.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on the 16th (local time) that a passenger train departing from Pyongyang heading to Geomdeok (Geumgol), South Hamgyong Province on the 26th was unable to pass the hill due to a lack of electricity and overturned, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Local sources reported that the train bound for Geumgol, where the accident occurred, attempted to cross the high hill between Dongam Station and Lipa Station after passing Dancheon Station in South Hamgyong Province, but was unable to cross due to old railroad tracks and power shortages and was pushed over and overturned.
The train is reported to have departed from Pyongyang on the morning of the 25th, and the regular travel time from Pyongyang to Geumgol is said to take 13 hours.
From Dancheon Station, after passing Yeohaejin-Cheongok-Dapdong-Gaeung-Gwangcheon-Uncheon Station, the slope begins at Dongdeok Station. The railway from Dongam-Suchon-Sinpyeong-Ripa Station is in a high mountainous area at 700 meters above sea level.
The source said that heavy snow fell around Dancheon Station on the 26th of last month, when the accident occurred. “The speed of the train slowed from Dongam Station, where the steep incline begins, and when it reached the railroad going up to Lipa Station, the locomotive traction voltage was weak, so the wheels spun and the entire train fell backwards.” “I started to get pushed back,” he explained the situation at the time of the incident.
He said, “The engineer applied the brakes, but as the moving train accelerated and went around a bend in the mountain near Sinpyeong Station, the middle train derailed and the rear carriages of the train fell to the bottom of the mountain. While continuing to Dongam Station, trains derailed one after another and rolled into the valley. “He testified.
He added, “The two upper-class trains connected right behind the locomotive did not derail, but were pushed down to Dancheon Station along with the locomotive and stopped, so the executives on the upper-class train survived, but most of the residents on the remaining seven trains died.”
Passenger trains in North Korea generally run in groups of 9 to 11 cars, with the first 1-2 cars being upper-class trains exclusively for executives, followed by 1 car for baggage and 7 cars for general passengers.
The source explained that in this accident, all seven general passenger cars connected behind the train crashed, killing most of the passengers. The capacity of one train was 60, so the death toll was over 400.
The source added that the train bound for Pyongyang and Geumgol is always full as it is used by many merchants who transport metals such as king gamja from Daeheung or lead and zinc from Geomdeok to the inland.
The source said that a task force was created to collect the accident and dispose of corpses, centered on members of the South Hamgyong Province Social Security Department and the Korean Prison Guard. “The seriously injured people who were rescued from the Dancheon area where the train overturned were taken to the Dancheon City Hospital, but most of them are dying in the hospital.” .
The source said, “On the passenger train bound for Pyongyang and Geumgol, there were young people in their 20s who were dispatched as a group to the Geomdeok mine in Dancheon, and there were many female housewives who rode the train to make a living.”
The source reported that there was a similar incident in November 1998, when a passenger train bound for Pyongyang and Geumgol overturned due to a power outage on a steep railway near Dancheon, South Hamgyong Province, killing hundreds of people.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.