Following a large-scale train explosion in North Korea, Washington says it will consider whether there is need for U.S. assistance after it assesses information on the situation.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday that Washington would evaluate information as it is made available to determine whether there is a need for American aid. The spokesman added that, for the time being, they had not received any requests or details on what the North might require.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday he believed the North Korean train disaster was an accident and not an act of sabotage.

The secretary told South Korea's Munhwa Broadcasting Company that all the information he had seen so far suggests that it was an accident. Powell further stressed that he had seen no evidence nor read anything in the press to suggest the explosion had been a terrorist attack.

Powell said he had received information confirming that the explosion knocked down many houses and caused considerable loss of life.