13:04, 25 August 2022
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS. Amid an ongoing investigation into the explosion at the Surmalu trade center, the Prosecutor of Yerevan Sevak Hovhannisyan filed motions to the Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety Inspection Agency to determine and eliminate the circumstances which contributed to the crime.
The investigations into the 2021 fire at Surmalu and the 2022 explosion revealed that the Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety Inspection Agency’s Director ordered inspections in 2021 in the Yerevan Canning Factory CJSC (Surmalu trade center). 16 technical and fire safety violations were registered and the company was given deadlines to eliminate the risks.
The probe also revealed that some businesses at the Surmalu trade center were illegally storing and selling pyrotechnics.
Documents confiscated from the Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety Inspection Agency showed that no inspections or preventive measures were taken by the agency at the Yerevan Canning Factory CJSC after the deadline of eliminating the violations registered earlier. Numerous fire safety violations were recorded in Surmaly trade center, which caused the fire.
The Yerevan prosecutor recommended authorities to swiftly launch inspections at all major trade centers, especially where the buildings are reconstructed on premises that were used for other purposes in the past, to enforce the ban on trade of pyrotechnics in trade centers and crowded areas, and to cease the operations of the Yerevan Canning Factory CJSC until the company eliminates the fire safety violations.
The August 14 explosion in Surmalu trade center killed 16 people and injured over 60 others. One person is presumed missing in the blast.
The criminal case is opened on Violation of Fire Safety Rules Causing Deaths and Violating of Safety Rules for Storing, Transporting, Using or Supplying Flammable or Incendiary Materials Causing Death.