On October 8, an eight-ton truck affiliated with a trading company overturned as it was heading towards Hyesan on the road that links Hyesan and Samjiyon in Ryanggang Province, North Korea sources told Daily NK. Six fatalities were reported.
“The six who died in the accident were day-laborers employed by a trading company to collect pine nuts. The six were sitting on a pile of pine nuts in the back of the truck when the accident occurred,” a source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK on October 11.
She added that locals who went to the accident site to aid survivors were shocked by the terrible sight of the dead bodies and the pine nuts strewn everywhere.
The three trading company employees who were riding at the front of the truck were also severely injured and are now receiving medical treatment at a hospital.
According to a separate source in Ryanggang Province, the accident occurred as the aging eight-ton truck was driving down a steep part of the road with a full load of pine nuts that had been recently picked. The truck was on its way to deliver the pine nuts to a Chinese trading company.
There has been no word on what caused the accident. Both sources reported that area locals near the accident site believe that the truck was carrying too much to be travelling down such a steep hill, with the road also in poor condition. The truck may also have experienced mechanical issues, such as a brake malfunction.
The number of accidents that have occurred on the Samjiyon-Hyesan road have surpassed five this year, although the North Korean authorities have taken no concrete efforts to prevent further accidents.
A truck carrying construction materials to Samjiyon in January this year overturned, leading to several fatalities, while in March, a minibus overturned while carrying around 20 people (including the head of security for Kim Jong Un’s special residence in Samjiyon) while traveling to an engagement ceremony.
