Worker Dies in Oil Refinery Blast in Albania

 A 40-year-old worker, Shkelqim Muca, died and five others were wounded after an explosion at the Ballsh oil refinery in southern Albania.

The explosion happened while 300 workers were on a shift, 11 of them in the hydro-cleaning sector where the blast happened. Workers told the media tell that the flames from the explosion burned for around 20 minutes.

They blamed the blast on a defect with the hydrogen valve, which they claim was noticed some days ago, and they were waiting for it to be replaced.

"From what I have seen and the information that I got, it had to do with an explosion of a barrel in the hydrogen sector," Albania's Minister of Energy and Industry, Damian Gjiknuri, said on Friday.

 The oil refinery passed into a new administration some months ago after years of arguments over the controversial privatization of 85 per cent of its assets in 2008 when former Prime Minister Sali Berisha was in power.

Over the last two years, the refinery endured serious financial difficulties, while workers protested numerous times, demanding payment of delayed salaries.

On November 4, current Prime Minister Edi Rama visited Ballsh refinery to present the new administrator appointed by the government. At the time, he said the problems with the refinery were over.