9-Year-Old Boy Playing with Friend Struck by Falling Concrete Slab: Incident Details

Yesterday, in the area opposite house number 52/5 on Isakov Street, a 9-year-old boy was found dead under a concrete slab. It has been reported that he was not alone at the incident site. A local resident, whose name we refrain from disclosing at their request, shared the details with NEWS.am.

The resident explained that the deceased, identified as E. Y., was playing with a friend when a concrete slab fell on them, and one of the children did not manage to escape. “The children in the area always play in that location. Around 4:30 PM, I saw two kids going behind the garage. Around 5:15 PM, I noticed one of the children running away from the area. While playing, one of the kids noticed that the panel was falling, and he managed to flee, but the other one didn’t,” the resident recounted.

According to the resident, the child was scared and felt very bad. Initially, he could not tell his family anything and only hours later managed to inform them about the incident. Subsequently, they started searching for the boy, but unfortunately, it took hours to find the body of the 9-year-old.

“It was an open area, but it was already dark, and no one could easily find him, no matter how much they pointed out the place. The panel had fallen into a pit with the child underneath it. They called the emergency services, and only after that was the child’s body discovered, shortly after midnight,” he explained.

The ownership of that area remains unknown to both our informant and other local residents. “We don’t know the owner. We only see someone coming every few years to check if everything is okay before leaving. After the incident, no one came to inquire,” said the resident.

According to the emergency services report, “On October 11, at 00:10, information was received at the National Crisis Management Center that a collapse had occurred in the neighborhood known as 'Independent Mylia' in Yerevan, and a child was trapped under the debris.” Shamshyan.com reported that rescuers and police discovered the body of 9-year-old E. Y. under the concrete rubble in the area opposite house number 52/5 on Isakov Street.

According to the site, yesterday at 11:00 PM, the child’s father reported to the Malatya police department that his son had left home at 5:00 PM and had not returned. Following this, the Malatya police, relatives of the child, and neighbors began search efforts and subsequently found the child already deceased in the mentioned location, which is adjacent to his place of residence.