Posted on 03/15/2008 7:41:13 AM PDT by joan
TIRANA (AFP) — Powerful explosions rocked an army munitions depot near Vora, 12 kilometres (eight miles) north of the capital Tirana on Saturday, witnesses reported, injuring at least 155 people, mostly civilians.
Many of the casualties arriving at local hospitals for treatment were women and children covered with blood and one doctor appealed for local people to donate blood to help the casualties.
The blasts, which occurred at intervals for around an hour, blew in all the windows of the terminal building at the city's airport, just over a kilometre from the base.
The initial blast was so loud it was heard in neighbouring Macedonia, 150 kilometres away.
Military experts were disassembling the shells at the time of the first explosion. They were assisted by employees of an American company contracted by NATO to help Albanian army eliminate the munition.
The US embassy in Tirana, contacted by telephone, was unable to confirm that there were foreigners at the scene at the moment of first explosion.
Earlier, witnesses told AFP that soldiers were in the process of storing shells in the depot when the first explosion took place.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha told journalists that the situation was "very serious and very alarming," adding that there were thought to be "many injured."
"At least 155 people were hospitalised, 70 at the hospital in Durres (west from Tirana), 70 at the military hospital in Tirana and 15 in a civilian hospital in Tirana," Albanian Health Minister Nard Ndoka told reporters.
"Those injured who are hospitalised were coming from the neighbouring villages, because ambulance have not yet managed to approach the site of the incident as the explosions were still going on," he said.
Most of the casualties were civilians being brought in by ambulances which followed each other in quick succession, while others came in private cars.
Many were women and children covered with blood.
A doctor at the hospital compared the flood of people with "a toll of war."
"The situation is serious," he said, urging citizens to donate blood, "which could run short."
"We have sent defence ministry helicopters and we have begun to evacuate the residents of villages neighbouring the depot," Berisha said.
The depot is located outside Vora, next to the village of Gerdec.
All windows shattered at the airport Rinas-Tirana, located more than a kilometer (mile) from the scene of the blast, while several cars were damaged.
The airport was immediately closed down and all flights cancelled until further notice.
The blasts were so powerful that they were heard in neighbouring Macedonia, prompting dozens of citizens to alert the police there, believing the explosions were in the country itself, authorities in Skopje said.
In the western part of Macedonia, some 150 kilometres from the blast site inside Albania, windows were shattered at a number of houses, the police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told AFP.
"A lot of people reported very strong blasts to us, but not a single incident was registered" in Macedonia, Kotevski added.
TIRANA (Reuters) - Some 63 people working near the site of a major explosion at an Albanian army base may have been killed or seriously injured by the blast, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha's spokeswoman said on Saturday.
"We do not know the exact number," Juela Mecani told Reuters, "but we fear the worst for the three teams, each of 21 people, working there at the time. Several were U.S. citizens."
The U.S. embassy in Tirana told Reuters it could not confirm the presence of U.S. military personnel at the site, on the outskirts of the capital Tirana.
Berisha said earlier that a number of explosions took place, probably while the teams were dismantling ammunition.
Wounded people were being taken to nearby hospitals. Local media reports said most had suffered burns, concussion, broken limbs, or were hurt by flying glass and shrapnel.
"Terrified people are leaving the area on foot along the highway, women and children," said a Reuters cameraman at the scene. "Cars with broken windows have been abandoned on the highway."
The explosions were so powerful they were felt in Tirana and the seaside resort of Durres, some 20 km (12 miles) away.
Arlinda Causholli, a spokeswoman for Tirana Airport, said windows and glass doors were shattered at the airport, several kilometres from the base.
"We evacuated passengers from the affected area and suspended flights for around 30 minutes," Causholli told Reuters. Flights have since resumed.
(Reporting by Benet Koleka, writing by Ellie Tzortzi; editing by Tim Pearce)
“Military experts were disassembling the shells at the time of the first explosion. They were assisted by employees of an American company contracted by NATO to help Albanian army eliminate the munition.”
Prayers for the victims.
Does this ‘base’ have a name?
And, what size was the ammo dump? Must have been, like, waaaay big, and no magazines to boot.
Will be interesting as more reports come out.
The explosion started a fire that began igniting the propellant on many of the shells, sending them screaming into the nearby city, where many of them exploded on impact.
SEE VIDEO LINK BELOW
This depot is about halfway between Tirana and the port of Durres. Nearest villages are Vore (not to be confused with Vlora) and Gerdec. You can find it on google earth at 41-degrees 24 minutes 10.76 seconds North and 19-degrees 39 minutes and 53.03 seconds East.
There is NO WAY any windows in Macedonia were damaged from this as stated in the article. No mention of any windows broken in the capital Tirana about 12 miles east. Rinas airport did sustain broken windows but is about 2 miles east of this depot. Still a mighty explosion that can been seen here” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP1_c8s2GSM
We have for some time been assisting Albania destroy munitions as part of the Nunn-Lugar Act. It is also a condition for NATO entry. The video shows a lot of smaller explosions - sounds like popcorn. These are individual munitions going up. Could be anything from howitzer shells to aircraft bombs. These smaller explosions are followed by a huge explosion near the end of the video. This mighty explosion is probably the high explosives, propellants, and possibly gunpowder which was removed from individual munitions as part of their destruction and was stored in some sort of large container or storage tank.
Hope no one you know was on-site as a contractor.
No people there from our community.......Thanks for the ping !!!
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