Dozens feared dead at Albania blast

Dozens feared dead at Albania blast

www.reuters.com

TIRANA (Reuters) - About 160 people, including several Americans, were killed or injured on Saturday by a series of large explosions at an Albanian army base on the outskirts of the capital Tirana, government officials said.

The explosions are believed to have begun while three teams were dismantling munitions stored at the base.

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Hopefully many people got out alive. The article states several Americans were killed or injured, and that several were US citizens, but later on states that they can't confirm whether or not there were any US military personnel at the base... So...were they just random civilians helping to dismantle the munitions then?!

Michelle

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Albania does have a separatist movement, I am not sure about what the ethnic making of the group is or political ambitions. But, however, they did fight for the struggle for Kosovo during the Balkans war

reply to post by infinite


After reading the articles, first off, it says 4 dead.. yet the Reuters says 160? .. Big difference, maybe they meant 160 injured or something..

Secondly, after reading.. it says that 3 teams where dismantling munitions .. so was this an accident gone bad, or a terrorist attack?

Originally posted by infinite
Albania does have a separatist movement, I am not sure about what the ethnic making of the group is or political ambitions. But, however, they did fight for the struggle for Kosovo during the Balkans war

Albania does not have a separatist movement man What's happening is in Albania main land not in Kosovo. Don't confuse things. And in Albania there are no ethnic groups except some 20-30 thousands greeks in the southern part of the country. The rest of population is all albanians.

[edit on 15-3-2008 by Telos]

Probably Al-Qaeda or Iran

or *shock* an accident.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
reply to post by infinite

 

After reading the articles, first off, it says 4 dead.. yet the Reuters says 160? .. Big difference, maybe they meant 160 injured or something..

Secondly, after reading.. it says that 3 teams where dismantling munitions .. so was this an accident gone bad, or a terrorist attack?

I just spoke to a friend of mine, a journalist that is working in the area and the reports so far are confusing. One thing is known for sure that the number of the people injured in the blast is 160. There were three teams of 21 workers each working at the site of the explosion including 4 american citizens and nothing is known about their status. Some workers and local people managed to refuge themselves in one tunnel but the rest are feared dead. The problem is that the amount of ammunition is huge and the explosions aren't stopping. Therefore nobody can get close enough to the site except some military armored vehicles but they can't do much. One witness who managed to escape with minor burns and bruises claimed to have seen people burning alive or blown up by the explosions.
As for the terrorist attack that's not possible. The problem is that the workers employed by an american company weren't fully trained for dismantling munitions. Most likely the explosion is accidental.


p.s. another news, 5 people are confirmed dead (one of them a 7 years old boy) and the number of people injured is 203.





[edit on 15-3-2008 by Telos]