North Korea road crash kills 32 Chinese tourists

A bus crash in North Korea killed 32 Chinese tourists and four North Koreans, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said yesterday.

The ministry is investigating the cause of the accident in which two other Chinese nationals were injured on Sunday, south of the capital Pyongyang, a spokesman said.

China was informed of the accident on Sunday night and its embassy staff in Pyongyang rushed to the scene, the ministry said.

The accident occurred in North Hwanghae province, which stretches to the border with the South, including the city of Kaesong, an ancient capital with historic sites.

The tour group were travelling by bus from Kaesong to Pyongyang when the accident happened, independent Seoulbased website NK News said.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed images of a large overturned bus with light rain falling on rescue vehicles and doctors tending to a patient.

North Korean roads are generally poor and potholed, and in many areas dirt rather than tarmac. Bridges are sometimes out of commission, requiring rivers to be forded or vehicles to take detours.

But the route from Pyongyang to Kaesong is one of the best in the country. It runs north-south from Sinuiju on the Chinese border to the demilitarised zone on the border with the South, but has little traffic.

The ministry said it activated an emergency process on Sunday night and is “sparing no efforts” to handle the situation.

The majority of foreign tourists to North Korea are Chinese, with the Cold War allies sharing a long land border and operating flights between the two countries.

Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists are believed to visit the North every year. Chinese tourism has continued even though Beijing has enforced UN sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclearweapons programme.

North Korean roads are generally poor and potholed, and in many areas dirt rather than tarmac