Artsakh authorities are calling for urgent airlifts to evacuate of victims after an explosion at a fuel depot on Monday rocked an already tense Stepanakert.
The Nagorno-Karabakh State Service of Emergency Situations said the explosion took place at a fuel depot near the Stepanakert-Askeran road. The powerful blast resulted in deaths and injuries. The authorities did not specify the number of victims.
Multiple people with burns have been hospitalized.
Artsakh Parliament member Metakse Hakobyan told Armenpress that the gas station where the explosion happened is outside Stepanakert but close to the city.
“A gasoline warehouse exploded. The warehouse was used to distribute fuel to those who wanted to leave Artsakh by cars. Hundreds of people were gathered there when the explosion took place,” Hakobyan said.
The fuel depot was about two kilometers away from the city. “The explosion was very powerful,” Hakopyan said.
Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan said hundreds of people have been inured and there are many fatalities.
He warned that Artsakh is unable to provide sufficient medical assistance to the wounded.
“Medical assistance is being provided to those wounded in the Republican Medical Center and the Stepanakert Children’s Hospital in conditions of limited possibilities in terms of treatment and medications, which is insufficient. There is an urgent need to evacuate those wounded by airlift to save their lives,” he said.
This is a developing story.