A devastated father battled an Albanian police commissioner on the beach after the policeman allegedly crashed his boat into his 7-year-old British daughter, killing her.
The girl, Jonada Avdia, a British citizen, died Tuesday while playing in the ocean when she was struck by the propeller of a speedboat off Potam beach in Albania. The boat was driven by officer Arjan Tase while it was off duty, according to reports.
As Tase parked his boat on the shore just after the fatal accident, her father, Bedlar Avdia, confronted his daughter’s suspected killer and a fight ensued, photos shared by former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha show. Informed daily mail.
The police officer allegedly steered the boat into waters designated exclusively for swimmers.
“I was bathing with my daughter near the shore, I saw a white boat with two people on board,” Avdia, a native of Albania, told local media.
He said the boat briefly parked on shore where a woman got off and more women and children boarded before taking off in the direction of him and his daughter.
“It came in our direction and it came at a hell of a speed and separated me and the girl,” he said.
“I went underwater and the boat hit my daughter with the engine part, cutting her everywhere.”
Tase, the police chief of the city of Elbasan, was later arrested and was due to appear in court in the city of Vlora on Friday.
Investigators state that the policeman was transporting members of his family from Porto Palermo to Potam, a distance of approximately 5 miles, when the accident occurred.
Law enforcement officials said Tase walked through an area clearly designated for swimmers with marked buoys to drop off family members before walking away and hitting the young Jonada just 15 feet from shore.
The ship’s propeller blades “caused serious injuries resulting in immediate loss of life,” a police spokesman told local media.
Tase has been charged with “negligent homicide” and 15 police officers who were supposed to patrol the beach that day have been sacked, the Daily Mail reported.
The incident sparked protests in the capital city of Tirana, where demonstrators demanded the resignation of the country’s Interior Minister Bledar Çuçi, Director General of the State Police Gledis Nanos, and Tourism Minister Mirela Kumbaro. according to Albanian Daily.
kumbaro said Albania Daily who blames Tase for the tragedy and asked for a maximum penalty in his case.
“An angel is no longer among us because of the stupidity of a man who violated all laws, all rules and all norms with tragically irreversible consequences,” he said.
“Aware that there are no words that serve as consolation to the parents, to the family for the tragedy they suffered, the request goes to justice so that it does its job, without commitment, with the maximum sanction for those who break the law.”
The leader of the Democratic Party of Albania, Sali Berisha, claimed that the ship had previously been used for drug trafficking.
