BEIJING, April 25: The death toll from a train blast in North Korea has risen to 161 people, a Beijing-based Red Cross official said on Sunday. "We have heard from our people in North Korea that the death toll has risen to 161," said Niels Juel , regional relief coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Aid workers had previously put the toll at 154 dead and hundreds injured after the devastating explosion of two trains at North Korea's Ryongchon station on Thursday. Scores of primary school children were among those killed.

North Korea's first official report on the disaster, on Saturday, blamed the incident on carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel tanker wagons. -Reuters