At least 154 people, including 76 primary school students, have been killed and more than 1,300 injured in Thursday's train explosion at the Ryongchon railway station in North Phyongan province in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), a senior DPRK rescue official told Xinhua Saturday.

The blasts occurred at 12: 10 at noon on Thursday due to a short circuit when an electrical pole nearby was knocked down after an oil tanker collided with two carriages loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer during the shunting of wagons, said Jang Song Gun, a senior official in charge of rescue efforts, on the scene.

The fire caused by the short circuit ignited the oil tanker andthe chemicals, Jang added.

The rail tracks were seriously damaged in the blast, which produced two huge pits with eight to 10 meters in depth. Broken, twisted rails were lying here and there, and smashed pieces of carriages were scattered on the ground.

According to Jang, Ryongchon has a population of 123,000, of whom 27,000 are living in urban areas.

After the explosion occurred, the local government immediately started up the rescue work and demanded help from the North Phyongan province and neighboring areas. Emergency rescuers and medical personnel, along with aid stuffs, were sent to the explosion site to provide immediate medical treatment to the victims, while some seriously injured have been rushed to hospitals, said Jang.

The Korean People's Army has also joined the rescue efforts, headded.

The DPRK on Friday informed some international agencies and foreign embassies in Pyongyang of the explosion, as well as the severity of the damage.

A team, consisting of experts from the international agencies and foreign embassies in Pyongyang, was dispatched to Ryongchon onSaturday to assess the damage.

Jang said since the team had witnessed the severe damages caused by the blast, he hope that the international community would provide substantial aid to all the victims.

Steel, cement, glasses, petroleum, diesel and all kinds of transportation tools were urgently needed in Ryongchon, he added.

Source: Xinhua