Russian Embassy Expresses Condolences to Families of Yerevan Market Blast Victims

YEREVAN (Sputnik) - The Russian Embassy in Armenia has expressed condolences following the deadly explosion at the Surmalu market in Yerevan.

On Sunday, the Yerevan City Council reported over two dozen people missing after the explosion at a fireworks storage area in the capital's Surmalu shopping center. The mayor's office said that three people were killed by the blast and another 61 were injured.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who died as a result of the explosion that took place this afternoon on the territory of the Surmalu shopping center. We wish a speedy recovery to the injured," the Russian embassy said on social media on Sunday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also expressed her condolences via Telegram on Sunday.

Hayk Kostanyan, the press secretary of Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, said on social media shortly after midnight Sunday that the identities of the three people killed by the blast had been established, while the fate of another 17 people remains unknown. According to Kostanyan, the dead include two women and one man.

The Armenian emergency services told Sputnik that specialists from the Russian-Armenian center of humanitarian response helped extinguish the blaze on Sunday.