Albanian Explosion Affects Churches
Church of God members were affected in the tragic explosion of a munitions depot in the outskirts of Tirana, Albania, last Saturday, according to Hervin Fushekati, overseer. The villages of Gerdec, Vora and Marikaj reported damage to church buildings and pastors’ homes.
More than 120 employees were working in a facility in a heavily-populated area where outdated weapons were being dismantled and destroyed. Destruction of more than 100,000 tons of communist-era mines, rockets and other explosives was one of the requirements for Albania to be admitted to the European Union.
Although some 10 were reported dead and another 250 required hospitalization, only one member of the church, a 19-year-old woman named Resmie Kraja, is known to be among the wounded. The church building in Vora was severely damaged and the pastor’s home in Marikaj was shattered.
Overseer Fushekati was driving in his car near Vora with his family when the nearby explosion caved in the side of the car. The noise of the explosion almost deafened him, and mines and rockets were blown into the air in all directions.
Plans are underway among the Evangelical Alliance, of which the Church of God is a member, for helping the hundreds who have been affected by the blast. The church’s outreach to the Gheg people of Albania is one of World Missions efforts to reach unreached people.
