As many as 200 North Koreans are dead after a tunnel under construction at the nation’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site collapsed, according to Japanese news reports.
Japan TV’s Asahi reported that about 100 people were inside the tunnel when it collapsed, and another 100 may have died trying to rescue the others during a second collapse, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The report did not make it clear when the collapse occurred. On Oct. 17, the website 38 North speculated whether Mount Manhap, where the regime’s nuclear tests are conducted, may be suffering from “tired mountain syndrome,” due to repeated underground nuclear tests that trigger seismic events.
As many as 200 N. Koreans killed in tunnel collapse at nuclear test site: report https://t.co/4s8mNoFGWx
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) October 31, 2017
Three days later, the Washington Post reported that imagery from Airbus satellites showed sections of the mountain had physically shifted before and after the test.
“What we are seeing from North Korea looks like some kind of stress in the ground,” seismologist Paul Richards told the paper. “In that part of the world, there were stresses in the ground, but the explosions have shaken them up.”
Yonhap quoted the chief of South Korea’s weather agency as saying another underground nuclear test could lead to the collapse of the test site and the release of radioactive material.
