Lots of Injured After Gas Depot Blast in Nagorno-Karabakh, Official Says

Greater than 200 individuals had been wounded on Monday in a gas depot explosion in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh area, the human rights ombudsman for the area stated.

The reason for the explosion couldn’t instantly be decided, and it was not clear if there have been any fatalities, however Armenian separatist officers stated, “There are victims and wounded.”

“A robust explosion occurred within the gasoline warehouse close to the Stepanakert-Askera freeway,” the authorities stated in an announcement. “In the meanwhile, rescue and medical operative teams are engaged on the spot.” Stepanakert is the capital of the breakaway area.

The blast comes as hundreds of ethnic Armenians have been fleeing the breakaway area for the reason that weekend to cross the border into Armenia, days after a navy offensive introduced the enclave again beneath Azerbaijan’s management.

The Related Press reported that the blast occurred as individuals had been lining up on the gasoline station to refuel their vehicles as they had been evacuating.

The ethnic Armenian management stated it might stay in place till all those that needed to depart the area had been in a position to go. They urged residents to carry again from crowding the roads out however promised free gas to all those that had been leaving, in accordance with Reuters.

The human proper ombudsman, Gegham Stepanyan, elected to that position by the breakaway republic’s lawmaking physique, stated in a post on X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter: “The medical capacities of NK should not sufficient. Sanitary aviation should land very urgently to avoid wasting individuals’s lives.”

A Russian peacekeeping contingent said that among the wounded had been handled by their medics and that among the most severely injured had been transferred to their hospital.