Relatives rush to North Korean crash site

"As soon as the explosion happened a lot of homes collapsed. A lot of the people are using canvas or plastic to shield themselves from the weather," Li Kaisheng, who has spoken with family in the devastated town, told AFP.

"Many people are living outside in tents. A lot of windows have been shattered and roofs blown off."

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The Red Cross, which has visited the scene of the accident 20km from the Dandong border, said at least 54 people died and 1,249 were wounded when two trains collided.

Many residents of this industrial city, separated from North Korea by a railroad bridge over the Yalu River, said they had spoken to relatives and had gone to North Korea to find out if they were still alive.

They burst into tears when they heard news of the disaster.

"They received phone calls from relatives on the day of the accident," said a shopkeeper in a Korean neighbourhood close to the border post.

"They started crying. A lot of them have gone over to the other side to see their relatives."

Li, whose nephew went to Ryongchon Thursday, said the explosion happened in a residential area and he had been told the hospitals were struggling to cope with the flood of wounded.

"They are not well equipped," he said. "Only the lightly injured were taken to hospital in Ryongchon. The people seriously hurt were taken about 15 kilometers to Sinuiju city," close to the Dandong border.

"I heard that all the hospitals there are full of patients," he said.

This would explain why hospitals in Dandong had received no patients despite authorities telling them to be ready to accept the injured.

"We got a call from the Dandong health department last night telling us an accident had happened and to be prepared to assist them," Zhang Fengjing, director of the hospital affairs department at the No 1 hospital, told AFP.

"But we haven't received any of the patients. None of the hospitals in Dandong have received any patients."

Nurses in the hospital said they had stayed up throughout the night waiting for the wounded to arrive.

"Several nurses and doctors were on duty. We stayed up all night waiting for them but they never came," said Sun Chengying, the nursing supervisor.