Albanian rescue workers today pulled the body of a five-year-old girl from the wreckage of the country's worst earthquake in decades which killed more than a dozen people and left hundreds injured.
The 6.4-magnitude tremor rattled Albania in the early hours of this morning and a series of aftershocks brought further misery today.
The earthquake reduced buildings to ruins and sent people running into the streets in panic, some of them carrying babies - while tremors were felt across south-eastern Europe, including in North Macedonia and Bosnia.
The epicentre was around 20 miles west of capital city of Tirana, between the coastal town of Durres and the city of Thumane, both of which suffered severe damage.
At least 16 people have died, including a man in his fifties who died after jumping from a collapsing building in Kurbin and the young girl whose body was pulled out of rubble in Thumane.
Another 600 people have been treated for injuries while 28 people have been pulled out of the rubble alive as civilian rescuers and the military search the wreckage for survivors.
This morning Albania's president Ilir Meta said that the 'situation is very dramatic' and promised that 'all efforts are being done to take people out of the ruins.'
Emergency workers told local media that one of those killed was an elderly woman who had managed to save her grandson by cradling him with her body.
Witnesses said at least one hotel, the four-storey Mira Mare in Durres, was destroyed, while another building in the city centre was badly damaged.
'Firefighters and army staff are helping residents (caught) under the rubble', in Durres and nearby Thumane, a Defence Ministry spokeswoman told reporters.
The health ministry meanwhile said that more than 600 people received first aid in hospitals.
In Thumane Marjana Gjoka, 48, was sleeping in her apartment on the fourth floor of a five-storey building when the quake shattered the two top floors.
'The roof collapsed on our head and I don't know how we escaped. God helped us,' said Gjoka, whose three-year-old niece was among four people in the apartment when the quake struck.
A man in Durres told local television that his daughter and niece were trapped in the rubble of an apartment building.
'I talked with my daughter and niece on the phone. They said they are well and are waiting for the rescue. I could not talk to my wife. There are other families, but I could not talk to them,' the man said.
At one stage there were 21 earthquakes strong enough to be felt in an 11-hour period as a series of aftershocks rattled the country.
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