The death toll from the explosion in Yerevan’s Surmalu shopping center has risen to eight. This was announced on Monday, August 15, by the press secretary of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia Hayk Kostanyan.
“Rescuers have just managed to extract another body from under the ruins. At the moment, we already have eight dead,” he wrote on Facebook (belongs to the Meta organization, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation).
Kostanyan also added that search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Armenian authorities would declare a day of mourning in connection with the explosion in the Surmalu shopping center in Yerevan.
On the morning of August 15, it became known about six dead and more than 60 injured, later the death toll rose to seven. A criminal case has been initiated under articles on violation of the rules for storing flammable substances, which negligently caused the death of a person, and violation of fire safety rules.
Also on Monday, Hayk Kostanyan said at a briefing that among the 17 missing people there is one citizen of Russia. Work to search for the missing continues.
On August 14, an explosion occurred in the Surmalu shopping center in Yerevan. A fire in a pyrotechnics warehouse was cited as a possible cause. Rescuers managed to put out the fire only the next day. The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia, Armen Pambukhchyan, ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.
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