Iri station explosion
The Iri station explosion was a disaster that occurred in Iri, North Jeolla, South Korea on November 11, 1977, at 9:15 p.m. About 40 tons of dynamite carried in a freight train Gwangju exploded at Iri station. The town and train station have both been rechristened as Iksan. At least 56 people were killed.[1]
Iri Station Explosion | |
---|---|
Details | |
Date | 11 November 1977 |
Location | Iri, now Iksan |
Coordinates | 35.94062°N 126.94636°E |
Country | South Korea |
Incident type | Munitions Explosion |
Statistics | |
Trains | 1 |
Deaths | 59 |
Injured | 1300+ |
Damage
Deaths and injuries
The explosion killed 59 people and seriously injured 185 others;[2] altogether, over 1,300 people were injured. At the time, the population of Iri numbered around 130,000 people.[3]
Infrastructure and property
The force of the explosion carved a crater ten meters deep and thirty meters wide. Most structures within a 500-meter radius from the site of the explosion were severely damaged. Approximately 9,500 buildings were affected by the explosion, which left about 10,000 people without a home. Residential apartment buildings, the city's first, were constructed to accommodate the displaced.[3]
See also
References
- "Huge Explosion Reportedly Kills Scores in N. Korea Border Town". Reuters. November 3, 1991. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
The news agency said the explosion was much more powerful than a blast in the southern South Korean city of Iri in 1977 when a freight train carrying dynamite blew up, killing 56 people and injuring 1,300.
- "Emergency Management in Korea: Just Started, but Rapidly Evolving Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine." Federal Emergency Management Agency. Retrieved on July 12, 2011.
- Han, Sungjoo (January 1978). "South Korea 1977: Preparing for Self-Reliance". Asian Survey. 18 (1): 45–57 [53]. doi:10.2307/2643183. JSTOR 2643183.
- 철도주요연표 (in Korean). 한국철도공사. 2010. p. 203.
- In 1977 wons.
- Sellar, Gord (17 July 2008). "The Iri Yeok Explosion, and the Iksan Landfill Crisis". Who’s Complaining in Korea. Retrieved 12 July 2012.