Tunnel collapse may have killed 200 after North Korea nuclear test: Japanese broadcaster

A second collapse during a rescue operation meant it was possible the death toll could have exceeded 200, the broadcaster said.

People watch a TV news programme reporting North Korea's earthquake, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea on September 23, 2017. The signs read “The quake was detected in an area around Punggye-ri where the North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.”

A tunnel at North Korea's nuclear test site collapsed after Pyongyang's sixth atomic test in September, possibly killing more than 200 people, Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi said on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

Reuters has not been able to verify the report.

About 100 workers at the Punggye-ri nuclear site were affected by the initial collapse, which took place around September 10, the broadcaster said.

A second collapse during a rescue operation meant it was possible the death toll could have exceeded 200, it added.

Experts have said a series of tremors and landslides near the nuclear test base probably mean the country's sixth and largest blast on September 3 has destabilised the region, and the Punggye-ri nuclear site may not be used for much longer to test nuclear weapons.

This satellite image taken on November 19, 2012, by DigitalGlobe and annotated and distributed on December 28, 2012 by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, shows the entrance area of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility in North Korea.