Pyongyang's state TV shows workers in a flood-stricken river area. [Yonhap News Photo]
A train returning from the restoration of flood damage in North Korea's northeastern border area derailed and turned over last month, killing about 40 people and injuring 260 others, according to a radio report.
The accident was reported near Tanchon in the province of South Hamgyong on November 21 when the train carrying heavy equipment and hundreds of workers was returning from a flood-stricken area along the border with China, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported in a Korean-language article.
RFA, a US government-financed nonprofit broadcasting agency, broadcasts and publishes online news, information, and commentary to listeners in North Korea and other East Asian countries.
It quoted sources in the communist country as saying the death toll would rise because a number of people in hospitals were in a critical condition. The accident appeared to have been caused by worn-out railroad facilities, RFA said.
North Korea's northeastern towns along the Tumen River that flows on the border with China were battered by massive floods this summer that killed hundreds of people and destroyed thousands of houses.
Pyongyang's state media reported earlier that it was the worst flood in the region since the Korean peninsula was split at the end of World War II. For three months, many North Korean workers have been mobilized to restore damaged buildings, bridges, roads, electricity and communication lines.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
