Tula Tragedy: Armenia-bound Bus Crash Death Toll Rises in Russia

Nana Gndoyan, deputy head of the MTAES Department of Information and Public Relations, said that 12 of the passengers were taken to a safe place, to Tula’s cinema house, and everything was fine with them, another eight passengers were at the homes of their relatives in Russia.

The official stressed that all information was preliminary and could change.

“A MTAES representative at the Armenian Embassy in Russia Artak Ghazaryan, representatives of Armenia’s police and investigation committee have left to the scene of the accident to get familiarized with the situation on the spot and will be there within half an hour,” Gndoyan said, talking to ArmeniaNow at around 1 p.m.

The MTAES National Crisis Management Center is in contact with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the crisis management center of the Tula region, as well as with hospitals. The official website of the Armenian Ministry periodically updates information on the developments.

Armenia-inbound or outbound passenger buses suffered major crashes in the past as well.

In March 2012, three people were killed on a coach carrying tourists to Armenia that crashed in northern Iran. All of the victims then proved to be ethnic Armenians with Iranian citizenship.