2008 Gërdec explosions

Hundreds of houses were demolished within a few kilometres of the depot, while car windows on the Tirana-Durres highway were shattered by the main explosion, which involved more than 400 tonnes of propellant in containers.

The blast shattered all of the windows of the terminal building at the country's only international airport, and every flight was suspended for approximately 40 minutes.

[citation needed] Possible causes include: human error during the work such as lighting a cigarette or damaging a fuse, improper storage of the ammunition, employment of untrained workers without the proper technical knowledge on explosives, violation of the technical security rules in the area where the destruction of ammunition took place, and sabotage.

Documents available from the US military state, and thermochemical and thermodynamic calculations verify that the combustible compounds within the ammunition being disposed of at Gërdec burned to give out a heat amounting to 4500 degrees Celsius.

[5] As part of an investigation by the Albanian General Prosecution Office, authorities issued arrest orders for Mihail Delijorgji (president of the Alb-Demil Company), Ylli Pinari (director of MEICO, a state-controlled enterprise managed by the Ministry of Defence and authorized under Albanian laws to deal with the export and import of military goods), and Dritan Minxholi (an executive director with Alb-Demil).

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) accepted a request from the Albanian General Prosecutors Office (GPO) to assist the investigation.