ALBANIA:THE DEATH toll is rising from a huge explosion at an Albanian arms depot, which injured hundreds of people, damaged some 2,000 buildings and forced the evacuation of about 4,000 people from their homes.
By last night, rescuers helped by US soldiers had found the bodies of nine people in the huge mound of rubble created when the weapons dump, 10km north of the capital Tirana, suffered a series of massive explosions on Saturday and smaller blasts that continued yesterday.
About 120 people were working at the site when the blasts occurred.
The shockwave blew out windows over a wide area, and was heard 200km away in the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
As shells, bullets and other ammunition were sprayed high into the air, flights from Tirana international airport were suspended for a time.
The explosions began as workers moved stocks of old Chinese and Soviet shells accumulated under Albania's former communist dictatorship; their destruction is a condition for the country's membership of Nato and it hopes to receive an invitation to join the alliance next month.
"The stock of 100,000 tonnes of 40-50 years old ammunition is one of our most serious problems," said prime minister Sali Berisha, who visited the area and appealed for calm. "One thing is certain, Albania must get rid of this dangerous inheritance."
Scores of buildings in villages near the arms dump were reduced to rubble or bare skeletons after the blasts demolished walls and blew out windows, scattering debris and shrapnel.
Tank shells, flattened trees and dead livestock lay strewn about the fields.
"We thought it was an earthquake at first," said Denis Muka, who was hosting a wedding reception in his family's restaurant.
"All of us were thrown to the ground, my head was bleeding and I thought I wouldn't manage to get up."
