TIRANA, Albania (AP) _ A woman working at an ammunition disposal plant in southern Albania died Tuesday following an explosion caused by a part of a shell being used to light a fire for heating.
Suzana Kapxhiu, 45, and five other workers at the disposal plant in Polican, 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of Tirana, reportedly lit a heating fire outside the plant’s surrounding wall using shell packaging paper, according to the Defense Ministry.
Kapxhiu was wounded in the head by the blast of a small explosive element found in the fire and died on the way to the hospital, a statement said.
The prosecutor’s office has begun an investigation, ministry spokeswoman Albana Mustafaraj said.
Last year, 26 people died and some 300 others were injured following an ammunition explosion at a private disposal factory near Tirana.
The Polican plant is an army factory used to dispose of about 100,000 tons of Russian and Chinese ammunition stored in former army depots across Albania since the communist regime fell in 1990.
