Albania asked Greece yesterday to dispatch firefighters to help extinguish a blaze from three out of five huge fuel storage tanks containing more than 10 million liters of petrol in the northwestern port of Shenjin, officials said.
Local authorities evacuated residents nearby and police sealed off the area as the fire raged. The government had asked Greece for help in deploying more firefighters, Interior Minister Sokol Olldashi said.
The fire spread after a fuel reservoir exploded for unknown reasons in the port of Shenjin some 60 kilometers (36 miles) north of Tirana, causing a leakage of 8 million liters of petrol. At least four firefighters were injured.