Armenia: The death toll from the explosion in Yerevan reached 5

Rescue crews recovered two more bodies from the wreckage of the building where an explosion occurred yesterday Sunday in a commercial area of ​​Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, increasing the still provisional death toll of the disaster to 5, the TASS news agency reported today, citing the Armenian ministry. Dealing with Emergency Situations.

Repeated explosions, which according to journalistic information occurred in a place where fireworks were stored, caused the partial collapse of a building in the Surmalou wholesale market. Dozens of people were injured.

This market is usually crowded on Sundays.

“Based on preliminary data, there was an explosion that caused a fire,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations summarized yesterday in the press release it published.

Over sixty people are being treated in hospitals.

An explosion occurred in the “Surmalu” shopping center in #Yerevanthe Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations reports.

According to preliminary information, there are victims. pic.twitter.com/ZAVcI6umqg

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 14, 2022

The disaster in Yerevan plunges Armenia into mourning as the country lives through a difficult period.

The small Caucasus state of about three million people has yet to recover from the 2020 war with neighboring Azerbaijan, in which it suffered a heavy defeat that sparked a major political crisis.

A sign of the growing nervousness: shortly after the explosion in the Surmalou market, the Yerevan subway was evacuated due to a bomb threat, authorities said, later clarifying that no explosive device had been found.

The embassy of neighboring Russia announced that it is trying to ascertain whether there are Russians among the victims.

Source: AMPE