Thirteen die and 26 injured as bus full of female university students falls off the cliff near Himara.
Tirana Times
TIRANA, May 23 – A bus carrying university students on a pre-graduation trip toppled off a mountain cliff in southern Albania, killing 13 people and injuring another 26, authorities said.
University officials said two buses had been taking 75 third-year language and literature students and three professors from Aleksander Xhuvani University in the city of Elbasan on a trip to the southern city of Saranda. One bus carrying 39 people fell 80 meters off the road near the town of Himare, 220 kilometers south of the capital, Tirana, police spokeswoman Klejda Plangarica said.
The cause of the Monday crash was unclear. Albanian media quoted one of the passengers and a resident near the crash site as saying the bus had been going very fast. Albania’s transport minister also said the road had been recently repaired.
Fifteen of the injured students were in serious condition and were flown by helicopter to Tirana’s military hospital. One died on the way and another later on, raising the total death toll to 13. The bus driver and the fianc顯f one of the students were among the dead. Prime Minister Sali Berisha sent condolences to the families of the dead, speaking from Chicago, where he was attending a NATO summit. He cut short his trip to rush back home and go straight to the funeral ceremony at the university. President Bamir Topi and main opposition Socialist party leader Edi Rama visited the hospital and Rama donated blood for the injured.
The government declared a national day of mourning Tuesday, with flags at half-mast and public television broadcasting classical music. It will also pay all funeral expenses.
What happened?
TIRANA – The students and three of their professors had left Elbasan early Monday morning for an expedition. They were in the third year and that was the trip before their graduation. That is very normal and serves as a great fun time for the students too.
But that turned fatal and the reasons are still unclear. But what turned to be a nasty little detail in that calamity was the fact that family members of one of the dead victims came out to say that the students were obliged to go to such trips or they would likely not pass the exam.
Is that true? Who knows!
Well, there should be some persons to know or get known with that fact, if true. It should normally be the university itself and, above all, prosecutors to investigate whether such claims are true.
Because if proved true, the families of the dead victims have so much to say.
Besides experts of the road traffic also said that all authorities, the university at this case, should contact police. Later police should either accompany the convoy (and it was a convoy as there were two buses for that trip), or stop, check papers, the situation of the driver and, why not, even the engine of the vehicle.
All such rules are written in the books of the law enforcement authorities who should not identify themselves these days (road police) with government cashiers with block notes at hand to set fines on drivers.
Besides experts also said that authorities should have long improved the situation of that part of the road, where the same kind of accident has happened even 23 years ago.
Cause of the accident
TIRANA – None until now, three days later. Authorities say they are still investigating all the circumstances and the evidence to come out with a clear cause.
But isn’t it a little late for such a conclusion?
There have been many testimonies from the students themselves and also a few witnesses who were close or passed buy immediately after the bus fell.
There are signs that the bus scratched its road side before going straight to the cliff. There is also a single sign of brakes, on one side. And the students said that the driver, who had not touched any glass of alcohol before, had cried out when they were going down. They also said that the bus was possibly speedy at that part of the road.
Aren’t these facts enough for the experts? Or they are not rushing to reach conclusions due to the many dead in the case?
Police: Driver’s fault was the cause of the accident
TIRANA – Police said Thursday that a human error of the driver was the cause of the accident of a bus that fell off a cliff and killed 13 people.
A police statement Thursday after the investigation said the bus was driving faster than allowed and the driver could not lower the speed at the turn, thus “the vehicle went out of control and consequently fell into the cliff.” Two of the 26 injured students who were in a coma have been sent to Austria for better health treatment
Mourning
TIRANA – On Tuesday Albania mourned 13 university students who died when their bus fell off a mountain cliff in southern Albania. Flags flew at half-staff on Tuesday, while hundreds of people lit candles and placed flowers at a makeshift shrine at Aleksander Xhuvani University in the city of Elbasan, 34 miles (55 kilometers) south of capital Tirana.
Hundreds of other students and people also laid flowers and lit candles in capital Tirana, at the main university building at Mother Teresa Square. What impressed more was to see hundreds of people down there in Himara where the accident occurred to also put flowers at the place and hold a short commemorating funeral.
2 to be sent to Austria
TIRANA – Albania’s health minister Petrit Vasili said Wednesday that two university students left in a coma after their bus fell off a cliff and killed 13 people will be sent to Austria for specialist treatment.
The minister said the two women will be flown to an Austrian clinic on Thursday. He did not specify which clinic.
The minister made the announcement together with the Austrian ambassador and the head of the military hospital.
Funding for the two students was secured from the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank in Albania.
The bank said that together with the Austrian embassy they offered financial assistance for the transport of the two seriously ill girls to go to a better, more specialized treatment abroad.
Its head in Tirana Christian Canacaris said such an aide was too small compared to what they had already given until now and what they are to take when in Austria. He said that was part of the solidarity and an effort to save the life of the two young women.
Albania devoted its Eurovision song to the bus crash victims
BAKU, Azerbaijan – Singer Rona Nishliu representing Albania at the Semi-Finals of Eurovision-2012 said the song was devoted to the people who died in the bus crash.
“I always believed in myself and I consider Eurovision contest a platform,” she said. She passed on the semi-finals and in the Finals, Albania will perform under #3.
Albanian public television TVSH canceled the broadcast of Rona’s night at the festival as the country was in a day of mourning Tuesday.
How did the media cover the accident
TIRANA – It was a tough competition especially for the television stations.
Each one of them tried to show exclusivity. Each reporter and cameraman tried to get as many testimonies, details, facts, shots, as possible. Very often they rushed in reporting, sometimes not double-checking the facts or the data. Some rushed to give names, or even to read all names of the whole graduation year in Elbasan University, thus creating some panic among students’ families. Others gave some not very nice views of the injured students. Yes, it was, at the beginning, a hectic coverage, often difficult to find the real fact. Meanwhile police and other authorities tried to be reluctant in offering data, description, figures, description and more on the accident.
After that there were some other colleagues who tried to criticize their younger colleagues on such a hasty coverage, often not giving exact facts that sometime may have created fear among other people close to the victims.
But they should first of all really hail the hasty work, difficult and competitive one of their colleagues down there in Himara or here at the hospital. Then they should turn their criticism not toward these young reporters, who made their utmost to get everything they could from the situation, but against their editors who were there calmly directing them. One should also hail the speed of the news for that accident, likely less than half an hour after it had happened.
And those reporters should also be hailed for making all forms of coverage in that difficult terrain, including interviews with the survivors, but also residents there, medical staff, local and central authorities and the like. One should always consider that without such a hasty coverage from those young reporters it would be difficult to feel what had happened there.
Condolences from all over the world
TIRANA – Condolences came from everyone in the country, all institutions, and from abroad. An official of the foreign ministry told this writer that it was a good moment to attract the attention of the world, despite the fact it was such a fatal calamity.
Yes, condolences came from every Albanian interviewed in the many television stations. Everyone, starting with those brave, courageous and heartfelt Himara residents, was so deeply emotional seeing how the lives of 13 young women, many of whom expecting to get married or to start their real life at work.
Every single institution in the country sent condolences to the families and wished a speedy recovery for the injured one.
Such solidarity was also shown with the fact that scores of people went to the hospital offering to donate blood that was so much needed at those moment.
The same offer and act was also made by Albanian brethren in neighboring Macedonia and Kosovo. Top officials and political leaders from al the neighboring countries sent their condolences.
The same heartfelt words came from many leaders worldwide, starting with the Pope, all local religious communities and many others. The National Albanian American Council from the United States said it was deeply saddened and joined the Albanian community and the world in mourning.NAAC extended its sincere condolences to the families who lost their young loved ones. The European Parliament also expressed its condolences at the Wednesday’s session.
Jos額anuel Dur䯠Barroso, President of the European Commission, send a message to President Bamir Topi to express condolences “On behalf of the European Commission and on my own behalf, allow me to offer you our sincere condolences and the expression of our deepest sympathy and solidarity with the families of all the victims.”
All ambassadors in the country also immediately reacted and publicly made known their deeply felt pain for the death of 13 young students.
