A sick ethnic Albanian man holds his crying daughter as they ride on the back of a tractor crossing the Morina border RELATED VIDEO: CNN's Rusty Dornin looks at the issue of Kosovar refugees being smuggled to Italy (April 27) Windows Media 28K 80K Towns on the Yugoslavia-Albania border are almost empty due to nearby fighting. CNN's Ben Wedeman goes to one of them. (April 27) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Where are they going?  ALSO: Relief workers aim to improve Albanian health care 2,100 activated reservists headed to Europe NATO bombs hit TV transmission site U.S., Russian diplomats aim to end Yugoslav crisis Red Cross: Captured U.S. soldiers 'satisfactory'  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo

April 27, 1999
Web posted at: 11:13 p.m. EDT (0313 GMT)

STENKOVEC, Macedonia (CNN) -- The flow of refugees out of Kosovo picked up speed on Tuesday, as thousands of ethnic Albanians poured into neighboring Macedonia and Albania, threatening to overwhelm already overcrowded camps.

About 1,700 refugees entered Albania at the Morina border crossing Tuesday night, the largest influx there in a week, aid workers said.

Most of the Kosovo Albanians said they were awakened early Tuesday morning in villages outside Djakovica and told if they did not leave their villages would be burned, U.N. refugee agency spokesman Ray Wilkinson said.

Some refugees said they saw villages on fire behind them as they fled.

The refugee situation in Macedonia, already at a critical stage, was pushed further over the line Tuesday when at least 3,000 Kosovars passed into Macedonian territory.

The flow of refugees, which had slowed to a trickle last week, has been on the rise since Saturday. Some 10,000 Kosovars have crossed into Macedonia since that time, and more are expected, causing international aid workers to sound the alarm about the rising risk of disease in the overcrowded camps.

Macedonia is already housing nearly 140,000 refugees -- 68,000 in six camps, double the camps' capacity -- according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

"We passed the breaking point last night," said UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini. "If we get any more today, we're going to have to give them plastic sheeting and have them camp in between the other tents."

Some 2,800 refugees on Tuesday crossed the border at Blace alone, following 3,500 who entered Macedonia at that point on Monday. Macedonia has given permission to build one more refugee camp, but preparation delays have kept construction at bay.

And if overcrowding weren't enough, days of torrential rains have left the camps awash in mud.

"The potential impact on public health is serious," said Aileen Robertson, an official at the World Health Organization's Copenhagen-based regional office for Europe.

Concerned about the possibility of epidemics, the U.N. Children's Fund began an immunization program at the camps on Monday, aimed at immunizing all children below the age of 5 against such diseases as polio and measles.

And WHO warned that infant formula, made with possibly contaminated drinking water, was likely to be unsafe.

From one to two babies are born among the refugees each day, the agency said.

Correspondent Bill Hemmer and Reuters contributed to this report.

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