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‘A sun as black as my lungs’: how corruption crucified a polluted Albania city
Confirmed
In Short: The city of Elbasan, Albania, is battling severe pollution and corruption linked to its industrial past.
The city of Elbasan, Albania, is grappling with a severe pollution crisis linked to its industrial past and ongoing corruption, according to reports from AFP and Arabnews.
Retired teacher Lirie Curri, 61, showed AFP X-rays of her damaged lungs, a stark example of the health impacts on residents.
In July 2025, a fire at a waste dump near Elbasan led to toxic emissions exceeding safety limits by more than seven times, according to Professor Besnik Baraj of Albania's Academy of Sciences.
The site, owned by Turkish group Yildirim, was temporarily shut down following the incident.
Environmental agency officials are under investigation for allegedly trafficking toxic waste from Elbasan.
Residents describe living conditions as unbearable, with homes and gardens covered in black dust.
Environmental engineer and former Elbasan councillor Ahmet Mehmeti accused some factories of turning off filters to save money, exacerbating pollution.
An AFP team observed a chimney spewing black smoke that suddenly stopped when a drone was prepared for closer inspection.
The pollution has become a symbol of corruption during Albania's transition to capitalism, with residents paying with their health.
In the summer of 2025, Elbasan was choked by smoke from its notorious steelworks.
Asthma sufferer Serjani is suing the city of Elbasan and the manager of the Eco-Elb landfill site for air pollution.
Environmental inspectors found 318 tonnes of toxic industrial dust stored in a chrome factory with no disposal contracts.
What this adds
The pollution and corruption in Elbasan may hinder Albania's hopes of joining the European Union by 2030.
What's confirmed
- The people of Elbasan have been the victims of environmental crimes since Chairman Mao's China helped Albania's then communist dictator Enver Hoxha plonk down the sprawling "Steel of the Party" complex of 500 factories on their fertile valley in the 1970s.
- In Bradashesh, retired teacher Lirie Curri, 61, showed AFP the X-rays of her damaged lungs.
- A days-long fire in July 2025 at a waste dump next to homes outside Elbasan led to concentrations of toxic furans, dioxins, methane and volatile organic compounds "more than seven times" above safety limits, said Professor Besnik Baraj of Albania's Academy of Sciences.
- The site, owned by the Turkish group Yildirim, was temporarily shut.
- Environment agency officials are also accused by anti-corruption prosecutors of being involved in trafficking toxic waste from Elbasan.
- "It's unbearable. We can't open the windows, even the oranges in the garden and the laundry hanging out to dry are covered in black dust."
- "Even the sun here is black like my lungs," she said.
- The country's third largest city has also become a symbol of the corruption that has dogged Albania's painful transition to capitalism, with Albanians paying with their health for recurring scandals.
- For several days this summer the Albanian city of Elbasan choked in a dense cloud of stinging smoke coming from the direction of its notorious steelworks.
- Environmental inspectors who rushed to two fires discovered 318 tonnes of toxic industrial dust that had been stored for months in a chrome factory, AlbChrome, with no transfer contracts for its treatment or safe disposal.
- An incinerator scheme to help clean up the ecological catastrophe turned out to be a vast multi-million-dollar scam that included a "ghost" incinerator for the capital Tirana that was never built.
- "The situation is serious in villages such as Balldre and Bradashesh near factories that emit large quantities of harmful gases into the air," said Anila Jance, a biochemistry professor at the University of Medical Sciences in Tirana.
What's still developing
- The repeated frauds and environmental failures may also slow Albania’s hopes of joining the European Union in 2030, analysts warn, with neighboring Montenegro seen to be pulling ahead.
- “I almost died from a severe (asthma) attack,” said local Fatmira Serjani, recalling the “terrible nights and crushing mornings,” her voice breaking between gasps of her inhaler.
- Her lawyer Gentian Serjani said the fire was “probably deliberate” — a frequent accusation about blazes in and around the old steelworks complex.