Witness Describes Explosion in Artsakh, Identifies Two Causes

A witness to an explosion in Artsakh has identified two causes related to the incident, according to Civilnet.am.

"There was an area as big as a football field, and there were stairs leading down underneath. People were going down in turns and filling up containers. Some were lifting gasoline from the barrel above with a bucket; I didn’t need it much, so I was staying up top to avoid inhaling it all. Whenever someone was smoking, the guys immediately sent them to the other side of the barbed wire. At one point, I saw three people on the other side of the barbed wire smoking, but they were far away," said Khachatur Hayriyan, who witnessed the explosion at a fuel depot located in the Askeran region.

These days, citizens displaced from Artsakh to Armenia are trying to resolve fuel-related issues.

Khachatur mentioned that there were two openings on top of the tank—one for ventilation and the other for filling. "The line was getting to me, and at one point, the ventilation opening pulled the air in, and then I realized that was the beginning of the explosion. It went off instantly and threw people in different directions," he recounted.

According to the witness, a fire broke out immediately after: "When it started throwing everyone, I hugged someone so they wouldn’t be thrown too far. After the explosions stopped, one of the guys started shouting to get away, everything is exploding. There was a fire in the middle, and we thought if fires came out of all the barrels, we’d be stuck here. I don’t even know how we made it through the barbed wire. There was already a fire, but there were no explosions at that time."

The witness mentions two possible causes for the explosion. First, the lightning was striking very low that day, although there were lightning protection devices near the depot. Second, it could have been due to smokers beyond the barbed wire or someone doing something inside the tank.

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