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"Reuters

Brindisi, Italy- An Albanian refugee boat that sank with the loss of more than 80 lives after a collision with an Italian navy ship was being towed slowly towards shore on Monday after being painstakingly winched off the sea bed.

Police in the southeastern port of Brindisi said they expected the operation to take at least another day and that sea conditions on Sunday had delayed progress.

"It's got 32 miles to go -- it's travelling at about one mile an hour," a spokesman said.

"If conditions are good, we expect it to arrive tomorrow." Conditions on Monday were "not great," he added.

The boat was one of scores of craft which crossed the Adriatic to Italy with an estimated 13,000 Albanians aboard at the height of the unrest that swept Albania in March following the collapse of dubious pyramid savings schemes.

Salvage experts winched the craft onto a special platform at the weekend from where it had been lying 800 metres (2,600 feet) down on the sea bed.

Tirana has said at least 79 Albanians drowned below decks when the boat sank 40 miles offshore on March 28 following a collision with the Italian navy corvette Sibilla.

The navy ship was carrying out orders to persuade Albanian vessels to turn away from Italian waters.

Many of the 34 survivors from the sunken vessel accused the Italians of ramming the boat, an allegation which Italy denies.

Officials stressed it was important to proceed slowly and carefully to ensure that none of the bodies aboard were lost and there was no damage to what remains of the boat, which will be vital evidence in an official inquiry into the tragedy.

"We have to make sure those people who died in such a horrible way have a decent burial," defence undersecretary Massimo Brutti told reporters in Brindisi on Sunday.

The recovery operation began on Saturday afternoon and is expected to cost eight billion lire ($4.6 million).

Italy led a multinational security force to the poor Balkan state to oversee the restoration of communications links and secure elections and last week hosted an international meeting on helping Albania rebuild its shattered economy."

from a few years ago, italian immigration policy is nothing new....