Over 20 Dead, Hundreds Injured As Albania Hunts For Earthquake Survivors

Albanian rescuers searched rubble through the night looking for survivors trapped in buildings that toppled Tuesday in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades, with more than 20 dead and hundreds injured.

Teams of soldiers, police and emergency workers sifted through the debris of shredded apartment blocks and hotels in towns near Albania’s northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country before dawn.

By evening the toll was 22 dead, according to the defence ministry.

The magnitude-6.4 quake struck shortly before 4am local time (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said. It was the second powerful tremor to hit the region in two months.

Two women were found in the rubble of an apartment building in the northern village of Thumane, and a man died in the town of Kurbin after jumping out of a building, Albana Qehajaj, a defence ministry spokeswoman, said.

More than 40 people have also been retrieved alive in marathon rescue efforts that continued with headlamps and spotlights after the sun went down.

“The rescue teams will continue all night,” defence ministry spokeswoman Albana Qehajaj told newsmen.

About 150 people wounded during the earthquake were being treated in hospitals in Tirana and Durres, Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu said.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Tuesday that neighbouring countries, the European Union and the United States had offered immediate support.