Rescuers comb building rubble after Albanian quake kills 18

© Hektor Pustina
Rescuers search at a damaged building after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Thumane, western Albania, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019

Rescue crews with excavators searched for survivors trapped in toppled apartment buildings and hotels Tuesday after a powerful pre-dawn earthquake in Albania killed at least 18 people and injured more than 600.

The magnitude-6.4 quake was felt across the southern Balkans and was followed by multiple aftershocks, with several above magnitude 5. In nearby Bosnia, another temblor with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck southeast of the capital Sarajevo, causing only minor damage.

The quake in Albania knocked down apartment buildings and hotels while people slept, and rescue crews worked into the evening to free people believed trapped. There was no indication as to how many people might still be buried in the rubble, as neighboring countries and European Union nations sent search-and-rescue crews to help.

Local television stations showed footage in the early hours after the quake of a young boy being rescued from a collapsed building in the coastal town of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana. An excavator moved a broken slab of concrete and the boy cried and shouted in pain as local men pulled mangled reinforcement bars out of the way trying to try to free his leg from the rubble.

© Visar Kryeziu
Rescuers hold the body of a five-year old girl after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Thumane, western Albania, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019

Hours later, live TV footage showed people cheering as another child was found alive in a collapsed building in Durres where a body had been located earlier. In total, 43 people had been rescued from the rubble of buildings by Tuesday evening.

Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu said more than 600 people had been treated for injuries, including nine hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

"It is a dramatic moment where we should preserve calm, (and) stay alongside each other to cope with this shock," Prime Minister Edi Rama said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, which struck just before 4 a.m. local time, had an epicenter 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the capital, Tirana, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles). Scores of aftershocks were recorded, including three with preliminary magnitudes of between 5.1 and 5.4.

The worst-hit areas were Durres, where 11 of the dead were found in collapsed buildings, and the northern town of Thumane, where another five bodies were pulled from the rubble, the Defense Ministry said. In total at least three hotels, a residential villa and an apartment building collapsed in Durres, and one apartment building in Thumane.

© Visar Kryeziu
Rescuers search at a damaged building after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Thumane, western Albania

One person died after jumping from his home to escape in Kurbin, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, while another person was killed on a road that collapsed in the northern town of Lezha.

"Search and rescue work continues at all sites where buildings have collapsed," Defense Minister Olta Xhacka said in a televised statement. "But these are extremely difficult operations, where you have to work slowly because there is a high risk of further collapse, endangering not only residents, but also those trapped, and the rescuers themselves."

Seismologist Rrapo Ormeni of Albania's Institute of Geosciences, Energy, Water and Environment, said a 6.4 quake was considered a strong one.

© Hektor Pustina
A man passes next to a damaged building after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Durres, western Albania, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019.

"Damage at the epicenter will be considerable because of its high energy, the magnitude it has," Ormeni said. "Such quakes are felt in a wider area due to (their) major depth and magnitude. It has been felt all around the territory of our country but also abroad, up to Bulgaria, Bosnia, Italy and other (countries)."

The quake was also felt in neighboring Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Greece, and parts of southern Serbia.

Authorities called on people in the most affected areas to stay out of their homes and avoid driving to allow emergency vehicles free access. Many residents reported cracks in their apartment walls.

© Hektor Pustina
Rescuers search at a damaged building after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Thumane, western Albania, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019.

All government agencies were on alert and "intensively working to save lives at the fatal spots in Durres and Thumane," Rama said. About 400 soldiers were setting up tents in Durres and in Fushe Kruje near Thumane in the north to house survivors left homeless by the quake.

Rama said neighboring countries, the European Union and the United States had offered help. By Tuesday evening, rescue teams from neighboring Kosovo, Montenegro, Italy, Greece and Romania had arrived.

Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, France, Estonia, Turkey and the Czech Republic also offered help, while the EU delegation to Albania said additional EU assets were on standby should they be needed.

"My thoughts are with the victims and all the people affected by the disaster," EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said.

At least three apartment buildings and the power distribution station were damaged in Thumane, knocking out power in the morning. The electricity supply was restored later in the day.

An earthquake in September in roughly the same area damaged hundreds of homes.

Hopes are fading of finding anyone else alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in Albania two days after a deadly quake struck the country's Adriatic coast, with the death toll rising after more bodies were pulled from the ruins overnight.

Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday put the death toll at 39, after authorities said six more bodies were recovered from the northwestern town of Thumane, and another two from the port city of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana. More than 650 people were injured in the 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck before dawn Tuesday.

Authorities say the search operation has ended in Thumane, with no more people believed to be missing in the collapsed buildings there. It continues, however, in Durres.

Search for Albania earthquake victims ends as death toll rises to 50

The search and rescue operation for earthquake survivors in Albania has ended, the prime minister said Saturday, with the death toll at 50 and no more bodies believed to be in the ruins.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said preliminary figures showed more than 1,465 buildings in the capital, Tirana, and about 900 in nearby Durres were seriously damaged in Tuesday's 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake.

About 2,000 people were injured. One woman remained in a coma, according to health officials.

Preliminary figures estimate at least 4,000 people are homeless.

About 2,500 people from damaged homes have been sheltered in hotels. Others have been taken to neighboring Kosovo or have moved to eastern areas of Albania.

The prime minister has pledged all homeless will be in "stronger homes" in 2020.

The first seriously damaged building has been demolished, and a dozen others are expected to follow. Assessment experts from Greece, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia are involved.

A new draft law will sentence all investors, architects and supervisors to seven to 15 years in prison for violating construction norms. That and corruption in Albania's burgeoning building industry have been blamed for much of the quake's effects.

The government has set up financial compensations for families of the dead, including 1 million Lek ($9,000) per family, special pensions for elders and scholarships for children.