Rescuers find bodies of two more fire casualties in "Surmalu"

The death toll from the explosion and fire at the "Surmalu" shopping centre in Yerevan has risen to 10.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 14, there was an explosion in a fireworks warehouse in the "Surmalu" shopping centre in Yerevan. After the explosion, a strong fire started, a part of the building collapsed. There were a lot of people in the mall during the explosion, eyewitnesses have stated.

At night on August 16, Aik Kostanyan, the press secretary of the Armenian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that rescuers had removed the bodies of two casualties from under the rubbles of the "Surmalu" mall in Yerevan.

Thus, as Mr Kostanyan has noted, the current count of casualties is 10 people.

The MfE has also specified the number of people who are still missing. With reference to the Iranian Embassy, it has stated that the initial information about six missing Iranian citizens was not confirmed. Thus, as reported earlier, one Iranian citizen and one Russian one are among those regarded as missing. In total, according to the updated information, 18 people are still treated as missing.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 16, 2022 at 01:39 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.