Number of dead from Gerdec catastrophe reduced by government

TIRANA, April 7 – On Monday, the Interior Ministry police lowered the death toll from the Gerdec blast to 24, from the 27 previously cited.
The reason for the often-changing numbers are unclear, though one may immediately turn the finger to a statement a day earlier from Prime Minister Sali Berisha mentioning that figure.
On Sunday, authorities had said the discovery of another body near the explosion site brought the total number of dead to 27.
Last week, a six-year old child injured severely injured at the massive March 15 explosion, died at an Italian hospital. Also, on Sunday army engineers found another body, believed to be a woman, bringing an end to the search operation.
Army engineers have completed the cleaning of the flattened army dump at Gerdec, isolating the blast crater and looking for no other missing persons.
The March 15 blast was triggered during work to dispose of surplus artillery shells. The accident injured 300 people and destroyed 412 homes, scattering artillery shells over 40 square kilometers. According to estimates published by the Albanian government, the explosion caused more than 15 million Euros in damage to the surrounding area.
The explosions began when workers were moving stocks of old Chinese and Soviet shells stored at the base, a central collection point for the arsenal amassed by the communist-era dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.
Albania had, for years, been trying to dismantle the obsolete arsenal, totaling some 100,000 tons of munitions.
Three people were arrested following the blasts at the depot and charged with negligence due to overlooked safety regulations.
The head of the state-owned company MEICO, Ylli Pinari, and the head of Alba Demil, Mihal Delijorgji have both been detained along with Dritan Minxholi, the Alba Demil director at the depot in the village of Gerdec.
The government has also been accused of a cover-up of what was really going on at the site.