ALBANIA: KOSOVO: FAMILY REACH ALBANIAN BORDER скачать в хорошем качестве

ALBANIA: KOSOVO: FAMILY REACH ALBANIAN BORDER

(31 Mar 1999) Albanian/Nat At least eight ethnic-Albanian refugees from Kosovo have died in an Albanian hospital after making the arduous journey across the mountains. Serb forces have driven tens of thousands of people from the troubled province since the weekend. A small hospital in Kukes is struggling to care for the elderly, frail and the chronically ill who are among the tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees crossing into the neighbouring country. There is no halt in the flow of refugees seeking shelter in Kosovo's neighbouring countries. For some the journey has a high price. Among the dead is a grandmother who had suffered from chronic heart disease for 20 years. Mirhie Krasniqi told how her mother, also called Mirhie, had insisted the leave her behind when the family fled the city of Prizren early on Sunday. Mirhie said her mother didn't want the children to be killed because of her. But Mirhie's brothers and sisters refused, and carried her on a stretcher as they made the journey to Albania on foot. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "All the people of our neighbourhood were leaving for Albania. We went out, my mother was sick, so we carried her on a stretcher. We walked to the border with her and we brought her to the hospital and she died" SUPER CAPTION: Mirhie Krasniqi, Refugee She told of the terrifying hours before the escape, when Serb police and soldiers roamed through ethnic Albanian neighbourhoods of Kosovo's second largest city, shouting and shooting to drive people from their homes. Mirhie said she and her three brothers and one sister tried to find a ride on Saturday but all the cars and trucks were jammed with refugees and their belongings. Serb police and soldiers returned to the neighbourhood, shouting "quick, let's go" and firing weapons into the air. They were shooting, not at us but in the air, and shouting "You want NATO, you don't want Yugoslavia," Mirhie said. Police then seized Mirhie's father and separated him from the rest of the family. After returning home, Mirhie said her father gathered his family together and took them into the street where a crowd of panicked Albanians had gathered. Mirhie said her father told them to split up and spread out in the crowd so that if there's a massacre, some of us will survive. In the confusion, one brother and his pregnant wife were separated from the rest of the family. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We were afraid that they would massacre us so we sent my brother and his wife to another neighbourhood and then we lost them." SUPER CAPTION: Mirhie Krasniqi, Refugee The parents, two brothers and a sister Shota made it to Albania. They have no idea what happened to their other brother and his wife. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...