Two killed, 15 injured in road accidents

TIRANA, August 2 – Two people were killed and fifteen others injured in different road accidents this week. The two victims died in road accidents in Durres and Korca. Klodian Jaupi, 31, was hit to death by a car while driving his motorcycle in downtown Durres while Zena Hemetlli, 55, was also hit while walking with her 10-year-old niece.
Earlier on Sunday, eleven people were injured in two different road accidents in the Fier-Vlore and Elbasan-Peqin segments.
Police said both accidents were caused in collisions because of high speed. Fortunately, all injured were out of danger after receiving medical treatment in the Fier and Elbasan hospitals.
The accidents, the first for this month, come after a tragic death toll registered in July when 27 people died in road accidents, 15 of whom in a single accident in northern Albania where a bus fell off a cliff in Fushe-Arrez.
Police said 50 other people remained injured from road accidents in July, some of them still receiving medical treatment.
Meanwhile, 19 other citizens were killed in armed conflicts.
Road accidents register a significant growth during summer when thousands of immigrants and tourists come to spend their holidays in Albania packing the roads.
The Tirana-Fushe Kruje- Lezhe and Tirane-Durres highway are the most problematic road axes.
According to a World Bank study nearly 400 fatal car accidents are recorded in Albania every year, or 13.9 deaths in car accidents per 100,000 people, slightly higher than the EU average.
In the last six years the government has declared a day of national mourning three times over mass fatalities following tragic road accidents.