Boat Full of Albanians Docks in Italy
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BARI, Italy — A boat loaded with as many as 1,000 Albanians docked in southern Italy on Sunday despite an Italian coast guard cutter’s efforts to turn it away.
Coast guard officials said Albanians aboard the 210-foot boat were to be taken to temporary quarters. The government has said those without a legitimate reason to seek asylum would be ordered home.
The Italian coast guard tried late Saturday to turn back the boat. A coast guard official in Bari, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the boat traveled slowly and frequently changed course after departing from the northern Albanian port of Shkoder.
A 6,000-strong multinational military force was sent to Albania last month to help restore order after weeks of rioting. The chaos erupted after many Albanians lost their life savings in pyramid schemes that the government failed to regulate.
Also Sunday, three small motorboats carrying 27 Albanians were due to arrive in the port of Brindisi, coast guard officials there said.
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