Iri station explosion

Iri Station Explosion
Details
Date11 November 1977
LocationIri, now Iksan
Coordinates35°56′26″N 126°56′47″E / 35.94062°N 126.94636°E / 35.94062; 126.94636
CountrySouth Korea
Incident typeMunitions Explosion
Statistics
Trains1
Deaths59
Injured1300+

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 59 people were killed.[1]

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]

Financial and political costs

Financial damage was extensive; property losses alone were estimated to be ₩23 billion won;[4] the government allocated ₩13 billion won for the recovery effort.[5][6]

Transportation Minister Choi Kyung-rok resigned soon thereafter.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ a b c Han, Sungjoo (January 1978). "South Korea 1977: Preparing for Self-Reliance". Asian Survey. 18 (1): 45–57 [53]. doi:10.2307/2643183. JSTOR 2643183.
  4. ^ 철도주요연표 [Major railway chronology] (in Korean). Korail. 2010. p. 203.
  5. ^ In 1977 wons.
  6. ^ Sellar, Gord (17 July 2008). "The Iri Yeok Explosion, and the Iksan Landfill Crisis". Who's Complaining in Korea. Retrieved 12 July 2012.