Excess ammunition kills again

TIRANA, April 24 – Albania’s defense ministry said Monday a 42-year-old man has died in a blast at a munitions disposal site
The ministry said the man died when an artillery shell exploded at a blast range in Skrapar, 150 kilometers south of the capital, Tirana. The blast occurred Sunday, and the victim was identified as 42-year-old Fatos Dyrmishi.
Poorer Albanians sometimes try to make money by recycling scrap metal from blast ranges, in one of Europe’s poorest countries which is still disposing its vast Communist-era munitions stockpiles, a task it has promised to complete by the end of next year.
Four years ago, a huge explosion at a munition disposal factory near Tirana killed 26 people and injured about 300.
This week the Albanian parliament held an international meeting in Tirana on Smart defense, regional cooperation and coordination among the southeastern European countries.
All participants agreed that getting rid of excess ammunition is a priority.
The global crisis has obliged all the governments to reduce their expenditure on defense. Albania too, a NATO member since 2009, has also lowered spending on defense.
Albania has pledged that it will dispose of all its excess ammunition by next year. Authorities say that they are still processing some 35,000 tons that have remained. With the fall of communism in 1990 the country had 190,000 tons. And when the blast in Gerdec disposal factory killed 26 persons Albania had still half of that amount.