More than 400 North Korean passengers were killed in a train accident last month, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Jan. 16.
A passenger train traveling from Pyongyang to Komdok on Dec. 26, 2023, was overturned due to a power shortage while traveling up a steep slope, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, reported RFA.
The train, heading towards Lipa Station from Dongam Station, navigated a steep slope 700 meters above sea level after passing Dancheon Station in South Hamgyong Province. A sudden power shortage pushed the train backward, causing seven carriages to derail and roll down the mountain.
The source explained that the train’s traction voltage weakened as it ascended towards Lipa Station, causing it to lose momentum and begin rolling backward. The driver attempted to brake, but the train accelerated downhill, and seven carriages derailed near Sinpyeong Station.
The locomotive and the first two carriages immediately behind it remained on the tracks and made it safely to Dancheon Station. The passengers in the prestige front carriages, mostly high-ranking officials, survived the incident. But the majority of passengers on the seven carriages that rolled down the mountain died.
North Korean passenger trains typically consist of 9 to 11 carriages, each with 60 seats, with the first two or three carriages reserved for high-ranking officials. This is followed by one luggage carriage and seven carriages for general passengers. The source estimates that over 400 passengers were in the seven carriages that were overturned.
The seven carriages were reportedly filled with young men in their 20s headed for the Komdok mines and housewives out on business to make ends meet.
North Korean authorities set up a task force to investigate the accident and dispose of the bodies. “Those who were severely injured were rescued from the site and taken to a hospital in Dancheon, but most of them died in the hospital,” the source said.
The accident mirrors a similar tragedy that occurred in November 1998 on the same steep railway near Dancheon.
