54 dead, 1,249 injured in train crash: Red Cross

The Red Cross has said at least 54 people were killed and 1,249 injured in the devaststing explosion in North Korea after two fuel-laden trains collided.

The Red Cross has said at least 54 people were killed and 1,249 injured in the devastating explosion in North Korea after two fuel-laden trains collided.

Some 1,850 homes were destroyed, the agency said.

It had been feared that up to 3,000 people were killed. The explosion devastated a densely populated neighbourhood around the train station.

North Korean officials have not yet made any comment on the tragedy. A state of emergency has been declared in the area while international telephone lines have been cut to prevent crash details from leaking out, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said the explosion was caused by the leaking of ammonium nitrate in one of the trains. Ammonium nitrate is used in some explosives, as a fertiliser, and in rocket fuel.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US government had no information about the explosion.