April 18, 1999
Web posted at: 2:31 p.m. EDT (1831 GMT)

In this story: Camps running out of room 'Absurd to blame Yugoslavia' RELATED STORIES, SITES

MORINA, Albania (CNN) -- A land mine blast prompted the closing of a main border crossing between Kosovo and Albania on Sunday, leaving the future of thousands of refugees trying to flee Kosovo in doubt.

Five ethnic Albanians died when their vehicle hit a land mine in Kosovo, just 20 meters (65 feet) short of the Albanian border.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of other ethnic Albanians were massing at the border in a cold rain.

More than 20,000 Kosovo refugees entered Albania Saturday, said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea. "As many as 50,000 are immediately behind them trying to go to Albania," he added.

Andrea Angeli, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the land mine incident occurred at about 2:45 p.m. (8:45 EDT) on the main road that brings ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo into Morina, Albania.

About 5,500 refugees had crossed the border in the 14 hours before the explosion, Albanian officials said.

NATO, which launched airstrikes on Yugoslavia on March 24, says the refugees are fleeing a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" by Serb forces in Kosovo.

The refugees arriving this weekend are in worse shape than previous ones, international relief workers said.

Rain and cold, exhaustion, hunger and fear are taking a heavy toll. For many, a thin sheet of plastic is all that protects them from the elements.

NATO pilots made more than 100 flights into Albania and Macedonia Sunday to deliver relief supplies to Kosovo refugee camps in those countries, said Brig. Gen. Giuseppe Marani, NATO's military spokesman.

Airlifts are beginning to take refugees away from the border camps, but not nearly as quickly as they arrive.

Albanian officials were trying to convert schools and other public buildings into additional space for the tide of refugees.

Plans have been drawn up to double the capacity of the camp in Stenkovec, Macedonia, from 30,000 to 60,000, but government approval for the expansion has not yet come.

NATO pilots reported heavy smoke over Kosovo, and allied military officials said hundreds of towns and villages have been destroyed there. The refugees bring with them accounts of atrocities committed by Yugoslav troops and Serb special police in Kosovo, which was once 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

But Yugoslavia's top diplomat said Sunday that NATO bombing, not Yugoslav atrocities, was responsible for the refugees' plight.

"This is a tragedy of the people which has been provoked by the aggression," Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic said. "It is absurd to blame Yugoslavia, Yugoslav forces, for this humanitarian catastrophe when everyone knows there was no humanitarian catastrophe before the 24th of March."

Radmila Milentijevic, a former Serbian information minister, concurred.

"The level of violence we are witnessing now is because of American bombs," Milentijevic said. "American bombs have turned Yugoslavia into hell."

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