A FIRE at a railway station in the North Korean city of Sinuiju destroyed a freight train carrying hundreds of tons of cooking oil from China and a warehouse full of cargo, reports Washington-based Radio Free Asia.
Witnesses who watched the blaze from across the Chinese border in Dandong reported seeing large columns of smoke rising from the city. There has been no word on casualties or the cause of the fire.
'Here in Dandong, we could see the black smoke rising more than 100 metres at about 11am near Gangan Station in Sinuiju across the river,' a resident of Dandong told RFA's Korea Service. The station is 1.8 kilometres from the Yalu River and visible on a clear day.
According to a source, the black smoke was a result of cooking oil going up in flames. Five of the train's 15 cars were loaded with soybean oil, which is in short supply in North Korea.
'If you consider that a single freight car can carry 50 tons, then it means 250 tons of soybean oil was totally burned, causing the huge amount of smoke. The other 10 cars that were carrying foods such as flour have all been completely burned too,' the source said.
Sinuiju is North Korea's sixth largest city, with a population of 360,000 people.
SeaNews Turkey
Witnesses who watched the blaze from across the Chinese border in Dandong reported seeing large columns of smoke rising from the city. There has been no word on casualties or the cause of the fire.
'Here in Dandong, we could see the black smoke rising more than 100 metres at about 11am near Gangan Station in Sinuiju across the river,' a resident of Dandong told RFA's Korea Service. The station is 1.8 kilometres from the Yalu River and visible on a clear day.
According to a source, the black smoke was a result of cooking oil going up in flames. Five of the train's 15 cars were loaded with soybean oil, which is in short supply in North Korea.
'If you consider that a single freight car can carry 50 tons, then it means 250 tons of soybean oil was totally burned, causing the huge amount of smoke. The other 10 cars that were carrying foods such as flour have all been completely burned too,' the source said.
Sinuiju is North Korea's sixth largest city, with a population of 360,000 people.
SeaNews Turkey