Eight killed after car falls from mountain road in Albania

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Eight people died in Albania on Tuesday when a car swerved off a mountain road into a ravine, police said.

The car fell on the rocky bank of the fast-flowing Vjosa River below a road that police say is frequently used by migrants from the Middle East and Africa to cross the Balkan country, police official Ardian Cipa told Reuters.

“The driver is from north Albania, we are trying to identify him,” Cipa said. “We believe the others are illegal migrants.”

The charred and crumpled vehicle was surrounded by at least four bodies strewn over the rocks, a Reuters witness said. Police taped off the area.

A police patrol spotted a car driving at high speed along the road in the early hours of Tuesday, but could not stop it. They later found the vehicle crashed in the ravine, Cipa said.

Since 2015, Balkan countries have become key transit routes for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Asia and Africa fleeing wars and poverty to the European Union. Many use smuggling networks to help them.

In 2019, Albania became the first non-EU member country to have officers of the bloc’s border agency Frontex to manage its borders in the south and east, which migrants usually cross, and fight cross-border crime.

Last month, Albania, which is a member of NATO and aspires to join the EU, ratified a migration deal with Italy under which Rome will build migrant processing centres in the Balkan country.