As the weekend came to an end, a tragedy occurred on the beach of Vilë Bashtova in Kavaja, the afternoon of 9 July.

Three lifeless bodies were carried out of the Adriatic Sea by random people on the beach. According to police, these bodies belonged to a 50-year-old man and his two children aged 15 and 13, who were buried in Tirana this Monday.

Meanwhile, there is no additional information on the whereabouts of the mother of the family and her state right now. Any reaction from their relatives and family is yet to be revealed.

Vacationers who witnessed the tragedy said the weather did not look favorable to go for a swim as the sea was full of tidal waves.

They also pointed out to the fact that there were no lifeguards or safety signals around the area where the tragedy happened.

Furthermore, vacationers report that an ambulance they had called to help with the situation, came around an hour and a half late, something that was dismissed by the head of the National Emergency Medical Center Skënder Brataj, who said that an ambulance from Rrogozhina had arrived only 22 minutes after it was called.

A red flag signaling vacationers to be cautious of the risk posed by tidal waves was only put in place after the tragedy. The same happened in the coastal areas of Durrës and Spille, which are at a close distance from the beach in Vilë Bashtova.

The Kavaja Police arrested the administrator of the beach in Vilë Bashtova, this Monday.

According to an official statement, 34-year-old Pëllumb Nika from Tirana was arrested for not fulfilling security conditions as stipulated in the contract between him as the administrator of that part of the beach (rented from the Municipality of Rrogozhina) and the National Coastal Agency, also approved by the Ministry of Tourism.

The materials were handed to the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of First Instance of the General Jurisdiction of Durrës for further action.