Boat immigrants drown
10/01/2004 17:16  - (SA)  

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Tirana, Albania - A speedboat transporting Albanians trying to get to Italy has sunk, killing 21, officials said on Saturday.

Three women and 18 men were killed in the shipwreck, said Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Passaro, a spokesperson for NATO in Albania. Eleven people survived and handed over to Albanian authorities.

Police arrested two survivors on charges of organising the trip.

Albanian police monitoring the sea with radar on Friday evening noticed a boat trying to cross rough seas to Italy from the Karaburun peninsula near Vlora, 140km southwest of Tirana, police spokesperson Floriani Serjani said.

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

The boat was found at 11:00 on Saturday, Passaro said.

In Rome, Ferdinando Lolli of the Italian Coast Guard general command's press office told The Associated Press 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.

Speedboats are a popular mode of transport for Albanians trying to sneak into Western Europe to get away from their country's poverty.

- SAPA

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