21 die as speedboat sinks

A speedboat transporting Albanians trying to get to Italy has sunk, killing 21, officials said today.

Three women and 18 men were killed in the shipwreck, said Lt. Col. Antonio Passaro, a spokesman for NATO in Albania. Eleven people survived.

“They have been handed over to the Albanian authorities at the Vlora port,” he said.

Albanian police monitoring the sea with radar yesterday evening noticed a boat trying to cross the heavy seas to Italy from the Karaburun peninsula near Vlora, 140 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of Tirana, police spokesman Floriani Serjani said.

Albanian authorities immediately asked Italy and NATO for help in assisting the boat, as no available Albanian ships were able to cope with the rough sea.

The boat was found at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) today, Passaro said.

In Rome, Ferdinando Lolli of the Italian Coast Guard general command’s press office said that no one was believed to be missing.

“The dinghy was full of water, and all these people aboard and the bad weather caused this accident,” Lolli said.

Albanian police arrested two of the survivors on charges they had organised the transport.

Speedboats are a popular mode of transport for Albanians trying to sneak into Western Europe to get away from their country’s poverty. The Albanian government claimed in August 2002 that its efforts to stop the illegal speedboat traffic to Italy had been successful after a clampdown on smuggling networks.

On Wednesday, police stopped a group of 24 Albanians hidden in trucks to embark on a ferry bound for Italy from the main port of Durres, 33 kilometres (20 miles) west of Tirana.

NATO and the European Union have urged Albania to strengthen its border controls. The country, which aspires to join both organisations, has since been working to fight the smuggling of drugs and humans.