Death of two workers brings the death toll in workplace accidents to five in past four weeks.
TIRANA, Aug 20 – A mining company’s has been fined and its explosive use license has been suspended after two of its workers died and authorities found work safety violations, the Ministry of Energy and Industry said in a statement.
Its owner was also arrested, as authorities ordered the company, Alba Co. to suspend all operations at the Fush롌op롭ine.
The two miners were killed in the Martanesh region in northern Albania when they were working 200 meters underground. The mine shaft collapsed on seven miners working to extract chromium ore.
It took three hours to get the survivors out of the shaft.
The Ministry of Energy and Industry confirmed the loss of life of two miners and announced an investigation is underway to clarify the circumstances of their death.
Accidents at work are common in the mines and other tunneling operating in Albania, due to old equipment and non-compliance with technical conditions.
Late last month three employees of a company building a hydroelectric plant in north-central Albania died, after the collapse of a tunnel they were working on. The three men employed by a Turkish company, died near the village Franc in Mirdita district, where the Qaf롍olla hydro-power plant is currently under construction.
Two of the workers who died were locals. The third was Turkish. They were working inside the tunnel, when soil from the ceiling collapsed, local media reported.
