North Korea has cut phone links to the outside world following reports of a train collision which has left 3,000 people dead or injured.
A state of emergency has been declared in what is one of the world's most reclusive countries.
Details of the incident remain sketchy but sources have said the trains were carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas and collided at Ryonchon Station, about 30 miles south of the Chinese border.
One report states that the blast was so powerful that it destroyed the station.
South Korea's YTN television station said the blast happened just hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had passed through the station.
The Yonhap news agency has said there were thousands of casualties but neither it or YTN have given a breakdown on the number of deaths or injuries.
There was no immediate suggestion that the collision was anything other than an accident.
