"Negligence or sabotage?" Explosion at Surmalu shopping center in Yerevan
Explosion at the “Surmalu” shopping center in Yerevan.
Fire at the Surmalu shopping center in Yerevan has yet to be extinguished. The shopping center caught fire on August 14 after a powerful blast in which seven people died and more than sixty were brought to hospitals with various injuries. About two dozen people are missing.
The fire is believed to have originated in a pyrotechnics warehouse. Violations of fire safety regulations were filed against Surmalu a year and a half ago, but were never followed up on. The responsible authority limited itself to imposing a fine.
Armenians are debating whether what happened was the result of negligence or a deliberate crime. Some social media users described the incident as “sabotage”, even an “act of terrorism”. In order to “prevent unnecessary panic among the population,” the country’s national security service called on citizens and the media to “refrain from publishing unspecified information and comments regarding the threat of terrorist activities in Armenia.”
All details about the incident at the shopping center, and comments from Armenians on social media.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived at the scene on the morning of August 15. He was accompanied and given explanations by the Mayor of Yerevan, the Minister of Emergency Situations, and the Director of the Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The Foreign Ministries of Georgia and Russia, the US and Chinese embassies, as well as Turkey’s special representative for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Serdar Kilich, expressed their condolences to the Armenian authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent a telegram of condolences to the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Photo credit: “Photolure”
The fire cannot be extinguished; risk of collapse
So far it has been impossible to completely extinguish the fire in the three-story building where the warehouses of the Surmalu shopping center were located. It is the second day that the Ministry of Emergency Situations is working overtime. Two-hundred professionals are involved in search and rescue operations. They are joined by 150 volunteers.
Although the building has partially collapsed, the risk of further collapse remains. Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchyan commented on this to journalists:
“It is too early to talk about the causes, it is necessary to conduct a proper investigation,” he said.
The Investigative Committee has already opened a criminal case under two articles:
- violation of the rules for the storage of flammable substances, which negligently caused the death of a person,
- violation of fire safety rules, resulting in the death of a person by negligence.
According to the adviser to the Prosecutor General Gor Abrahamyan, all possible versions will be checked.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations reports that there is no longer danger of an explosion, though there is a possibility of igniting the remaining materials.
“There is no way to approach the place where the fire started, and there is a lot of combustible material, so the fire has not yet been extinguished. So until the fire is localized, [firefighters] are working in six directions,” the representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Lieutenant Colonel Gary Armaghanyan, said.
Iranian citizen among missing
The Ministry of Emergency Situations has announced so far the names of six citizens who died in the explosion. As of 14:00 on August 15, the number of missing is eighteen. This list includes the names of those who were announced by their relatives by calling the 911 hotline.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, there is also an Iranian citizen on the list of missing.
How many actually remain under the rubble is unknown.
Firefighting and search and rescue operations continue.
The victims include a pregnant woman and a child
A total of 61 victims were brought to area hospitals. According to the Ministry of Health, thirteen of them are in emergency care. Among them there is one child and one pregnant woman; their condition is stable.
Yesterday the department reported about ten children being brought to hospitals after the explosion. They were given first aid and discharged.
Re-inspection in the shopping center was not done
The Urban Planning, Fire and Technical Safety Inspectorate conducted inspection in the Surmalu shopping center a year and a half ago. About twenty violations of fire safety rules were recorded. The shopping center paid a fine. However, the inspectorate did not follow up after that “due to backlogs”.
In April last year, a fire of the same size broke out in the central building of the Surmalu shopping center; about 2,000 square meters caught fire. Stalls of toys and household goods burned down.
False alarms parallel to firefighting
On August 14, when rescue work in the shopping center had just begun, the Ministry of Emergency Situations received false calls about the planting of explosive devices in different parts of Yerevan. Metro stations, important military and civilian facilities, shopping centers, a zoo, the parliament building, and the church of Grigor Lusavorich were named.
The Yerevan metro shut down for several hours, with passengers being evacuated from stations.
But a few hours later, a message was received from the Ministry of Emergency Situations that the metro was up and running again, and no explosive devices had been found anywhere.
Social media comments
“What happened at the Surmalu shopping center is being officially presented as an explosion. But is it? Or maybe it’s sabotage? The fundamental doubt about the causes of the explosion will remain, because I do not trust the law enforcement agencies of Armenia.”
“In all state and other places: metro, shopping centers, malls, etc., it is necessary to install X-ray machines, install guards with dogs. People will feel safe. And it’s definitely not that expensive. Even the poorest country can afford such a luxury.”
“If this turns out to be a diversion, then we are entering more difficult times for our state, when the same misfortune can be repeated in any crowded place, in every institution at any time. And if it is confirmed that this catastrophe is the result of a fire, then this should not console us, because in this case, too, safety rules imposed by the state itself were not observed.”
“I believe, I insist, I demand that fireworks be allowed only and exclusively during public holidays and only under the control of the state. Except for the importation of pyrotechnics for such occasions, all other cases should be equated with the illegal importation of weapons and ammunition and appropriate punishment should be imposed.”
Explosion at the “Surmalu” shopping center in Yerevan.
