Tourist season in Albania with many incidents for tourists and no local guides

This year's tourist season in Albania has marked a high number of cases where foreign tourists have been stranded in mountainous areas, river canyons or sea spaces, risking their lives.

According to the data of the Albanian police, from June to September of this year, when the highest tourist flow is also recorded in Albania, there have been 80 cases where help was given through rescue operations to stranded tourists.

A case in Malin e Jezerce, in the Albanian Alps, resulted in the loss of life of a 32-year-old Bulgarian tourist, who, according to the police, allegedly slipped from a height due to the steep mountain terrain and suffered life-threatening injuries.

According to the Albanian police, the highest number of incidents with tourists was recorded during the month of July, where in 22 cases in mountain tourist areas, canyons and marine spaces, 55 tourists were helped.

Most of the tourists lost their orientation and remained isolated due to the mountainous terrain, while another smaller part, according to the police, were at risk of drowning in the sea due to defects in the vessels and large waves.

In most cases, tourists have been given medical assistance by rescue teams due to physical injuries or staying for several days in mountainous areas without water and food.

During the month of September, the Mountain Search and Rescue Service of Albania, which operates within the Albanian Mountaineering Federation, undertook several search operations for two cases of missing foreign tourists, one from Lithuania and the other from Belgium.

According to the Albanian Mountaineering Federation, searches in the mountainous area of ​​Valbona have so far resulted in no trace of missing persons.

In Albania this year, there was no intentional criminal incident against the lives of foreign tourists who chose Albania to rest, but in a high number of road accidents during the tourist season, it was reported by the police that there were also victims of foreign tourists. foreigner

Specialists of the Agency of Protected Areas that administer some of the country's National Parks estimate that most of the incidents with foreign tourists come because they do not take local guides on unknown and dangerous itineraries, especially in the Albanian Alps.

The Albanian Ministry of Defense said that this year 12 members of the Civil Defense Search and Rescue Company completed a mountain training course in Kosovo to face the challenges of interventions in difficult terrain in Albania.

According to the Ministry of Defense, for the period January-September, the National Search and Rescue Center conducted 5 coordinated operations at the national level with 24 rescued tourists, 14 of whom were foreigners. During the past year, according to unofficial data, 16 foreign tourists lost their lives from January to September in Albania./ VOA