A powerful explosion destroyed a fuel depot near Stepanakert, killing and injuring many people, authorities in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) said late on Monday.
They said they are unable to immediately specify the number of casualties or establish the cause of the explosion at the facility located on a highway connecting the Karabakh capital to the town of Askeran.
Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, Gegham Stepanian, said more than 200 people were injured in the explosion. He said that due to their limited capacity and lack of medication Stepanakert’s two main hospitals cannot to provide adequate care to all of these people. Many of the critically injured persons need to be urgently flown to hospitals in Armenia, added Stepanian.
“Active efforts are being made to organize the transportation of the injured to Armenia by helicopters,” the Armenian Ministry of Health told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service later in the evening.
The blast occurred amid a mass exodus of Karabakh’s population that followed last week’s Azerbaijani military offensive.
Videos posted on social media showed a long line of cars parked near the depot that received large quantities of gasoline over the weekend for the first since Baku blocked traffic through the Lachin corridor last December. Their owners were apparently waiting to fuel up and drive to Armenia along with their families. Thousands of other Karabakh Armenians fled to Armenia earlier on Monday.
Source: Azatutyun.am
