Some 170 people have been injured and at least six people are confirmed to be dead from several explosions in a military depot located in a village about 12 km away from Tirana, the capital city of Albania. The first big explosion occurred around noon as a team of 63 people, including several American citizens, were working on dismantling munitions in an old communist-era military depot. Most of them are still in a tunnel where the munitions were stored and have not been evacuated yet. Ammunition continued to detonate throughout the day. Albanian national news sources stated that the depot held some 100,000 tons of munitions.

Many of the houses in Gërdec village, located near the depot, are completely destroyed. Hundreds of people, including children, have been taken to the local hospitals, and are suffering from severe burns, concussions and other injuries. Two other nearby villages have been completely evacuated by the Albanian military.

The explosions shattered windows in Rinas airport, several kilometers away, causing it to suspend operations for forty minutes. Furthermore, cars on the main Tirana-Durres highway had windows blown out by the blasts. Residents in Tirana, 12 km away, and Durres, 20 km away, reported hearing the explosions.

'I heard two massive explosions that sounded like thunder and severely rattled the windows,' said US citizen residing in Tirana. Confusion and despair reigns in Tirana and especially in the surrounding villages where the explosions happened. People are traumatized and scared.

World Vision is assessing the situation and is preparing to respond to the emergency.

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For more information please contact:
Gerta Yzeiraj Hagen
e-mail: gerta_yzeiraj@wvi.org
e-mail: gerta.yzeiraj@gmail.com

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