The rescue-search team from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, sent by Romania to Albania, has fulfilled its mission and returns back home in the country.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Ion Marcel Vela declared: „I thank the RO-USAR specialists who have reputably represented Romania, in the joint effort of the European states to help Albania”.
Following the coordination meeting that took place on the 29th of November, in Albania, which was attended by the Deputy Minister of the Interior from Tirana, the search-rescue phase was declared completed, considering that there are no other missing persons. Thereby, the teams that participated in the intervention were demobilized.
As a gratitude for the effort of the Romanian rescuers, the Albanian defense minister came to the operational base of the rescue-search team in order to thank the specialists sent from Bucharest.
Romanian rescuers return to Bucharest on the very National Day of Romania, tomorrow, December the 1st, by two aircrafts of the Ministry of National Defense.
We remind you that 52 firefighters, accredited by the UN for international missions, four dogs trained for human life and two volunteers specializing in canine training intervened in the area of Durres together with teams from Greece, Croatia and Turkey.
The team, led by Colonel Vasile Pirtea, began search-and-rescue operations on Tuesday night towards Wednesday, immediately after arriving in Albania.
Rescuing firefighters acted under the coordination of local authorities, being asked for search-rescue of possible survivors under the ruins of buildings collapsed following the earthquake that occurred on Tuesday morning.
The Romanian specialists have extracted from the ruins of a collapsed building three dead bodies that have been taken over by the local authorities. Although the operations were hampered by the replies that followed the earthquake on the morning of November 26th, the rescue and search team faced one of the most difficult missions that could ever endanger their lives; they acted with much courage and responsibility and they proved, once again, that the firefighters are heroes wherever they are.
The Romanian specialists were alerted also to other aftershocks following the earthquake, but after the displacement in the places mentioned by the Albanian officials, no other victims were identified.
The Albanian local authorities confirmed that there are no missing persons from the tenants of the buildings where the rescuers from Romania intervened and proceeded to gather the equipment issues and return to the base of operations in order to restore the operational capacity.
Following the activation of the European civil protection mechanism, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ion Marcel Vela, with the consent of Prime Minister, Ludovic Orban, at the request of the President Klaus Iohannis for urgent involvement of our country to provide support and help to the Albanian authorities, sent the rescue – search team RO-USAR within MIA.
