Van with Moldovans plunges into river in Romania

A minibus carrying Moldovan gastarbeiters to Italy lunged into the Mures River, near the Romanian town of Lunca Bradului. According to Realitatea TV, apparently the accident occurred in wet road conditions. To rescue the six people on the minibus, the Romanian authorities mobilised 150 persons, including military police, firefighters, mountain rescue teams and divers. The rescue operation lasted for six hours. Unofficial statistics show that some 300 minibus shuttles are travelling back and forth over Italy-Moldova route. Besides transporting passengers, these often carry packages sent by Moldovans working in Italy to their relatives, and vice versa. As a rule, arrivals to Chisinau are on Tuesdays and departures on Thursdays.