Albanian quake death toll rises to 51

By bne IntelliNews December 1, 2019

The death toll in earthquake-hit Albania rose to 51 as the rescue operation for survivors in the country ended on November 29, the ministry of defense announced on November 30.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake that hit Albania early on November 26 was the strongest and deadliest in the last few decades. The epicentre of the tremor was 11 km away from the port city of Durres and around 30 km from the capital Tirana.

47 of the victims were recovered from the rubble in operations involving some 250 search and rescue personnel from Albania, Croatia, the EU, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and the US.

Most of the victims were from Durres and Thumane.

45 citizens have been rescued while the number of injured is over 2,000. Hundreds of aftershocks were felt following the major devastating tremor.

The last rescue operation was carried out in Mira Mare Hotel in Durres, but no bodies were recovered.

4,000 inhabitants lost their homes and are being accommodated in camps set up in a dozen cities in Albania.

The Albanian government decided to provide financial aid and new homes to families of the victims.

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