Dozens feared dead in Albanian army base blast

An Albanian army munitions dump blew up in a series of massive explosions today and officials said they feared dozens of personnel including US specialists may have been killed.

Four people were confirmed dead and some 200 injured, they said, many of them civilians hurt as a result of the enormous shockwaves that hit nearby villages and cars passing by on the adjacent highway.

Albanian and US teams were moving obsolete munitions stored at the base, including 50-year-old artillery shells, when the explosions began. The base was a central collection point for the arsenal amassed by Albania's Stalinist-era dictatorship.

"We do not know the exact number (of casualties)," Prime Minister Sali Berisha's spokeswoman Juela Mecani said.

"But we fear the worst for the three teams, each of 21 people, working there at the time. Several were US citizens."

The US embassy in Tirana said it could not confirm the presence of US military personnel at the site.

A government statement said four bodies had been recoveredd from the site, and emergency services were working to retrieve more dead and injured.

About 200 people were already being treated in hospitals in Tirana and other towns, it added.

"Ten of them are critical, others have light injuries and many are in shock," Health Minister Nard Ndoka said.

Local media reports said most had suffered burns, concussion, broken limbs, or cuts from flying glass and shrapnel.

"Terrified people are leaving the area on foot along the highway, women and children," said a cameraman at the scene. He described plumes of smoke and consecutive explosions from the base.

"Cars with broken windows have been abandoned on the highway," the cameraman said.

Television pictures showed houses torn apart, their walls and roofs caved in. KLAN Television reporter Blendi Fevziu said unexploded shells were lying scattered round the area.

Some reports said residents from the nearby village of Gerdec had taken shelter in concrete bunkers built by late Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, while others fled to the hills.

Arlinda Causholli, a spokeswoman for Tirana Airport, said windows and glass doors were shattered at the airport, a few kilometres from the base. Flights were suspended for half an hour.

© 2008 ireland.com