At least 15 soldiers were killed and three seriously injured in a fire in a barracks in eastern Armenia, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
“According to preliminary information, 15 soldiers were killed by a fire that broke out in a company of engineers and snipers,” the ministry said in a statement. “Three soldiers are considered to be in serious condition,” he added.
According to the ministry, the fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday (Wednesday 21:30 GMT) in the village of Azat in the eastern Gegharkunik region. The cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
Last August, more than a dozen people were killed in an explosion and subsequent fire at a busy market in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
Armenia, a Caucasian country of about three million people, is still recovering from its heavy defeat in the 2020 war against neighboring Azerbaijan and the political crisis that followed.
Despite the end of large-scale fighting, tensions between the former Soviet rivals persist across their borders.