North Korea Reports 'Unimaginable' Apartment Building Collapse

Families of victims of an accident at an apartment construction site in Pyongyang, North Korea, grieve during a gathering in the capital where senior officials apologized and took responsibility, May 17, 2014.

In an extremely rare move, North Korea's state media have reported the collapse of an apartment building under construction in the capital, Pyongyang.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday that the 23-story building, which already housed nearly 100 families, collapsed on Tuesday. The KCNA did not report the number of deaths or give details of the collapse, except to say that the construction was not done properly, and that officials supervised and controlled it "in an irresponsible manner."

A South Korean official, who did not want his name revealed, said it is common for families to move into apartment buildings before construction is complete. He said hundreds of people could have been killed.

The agency also carried lengthy public apologies by senior government officials who called the accident "unimaginable."

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.