The Lion's Share of Responsibility for Surmalu Incident Lies with the Operator, Says Regulatory Authority Head

The head of the Armenian Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety Inspectorate (UDTFI), Ruben Khachunts, stated in a public television interview that following an inspection of the Surmalu shopping center in Yerevan in 2021, the inspectorate drafted a report outlining deficiencies and issued an order specifying mandatory corrective measures and deadlines.

“Additionally, since violations were identified during the inspection, an administrative procedure was initiated, and the director was subjected to administrative penalties,” he noted.

Khachunts explained that for the first violation, fines can range from 25,000 to 50,000 drams. If there is a subsequent violation and the order's requirements are not fulfilled, the fine increases to 150,000 drams, although the inspectorate must conduct a follow-up inspection for this.

He provided statistics indicating that in 2021, the inspectorate conducted 396 inspections of high-risk facilities and 249 follow-up inspections. In the first half of 2022, 254 inspections and 66 follow-up inspections were conducted.

“We planned to carry out a follow-up inspection, including for the mentioned facility (Surmalu shopping center), in the autumn, specifically by November,” he added, clarifying that in Surmalu’s case, 16 different violations were identified and various deadlines were set for corrective actions.

It is worth recalling that the explosion at the Surmalu shopping center on August 14 resulted in 16 fatalities, with two citizens presumed missing. The total number of injured stands at 61, with seven individuals continuing treatment in different hospitals, while others have been discharged with positive health dynamics. Twenty-one vehicles have also been recovered from the rubble.

In response to a comment regarding the absence of any mention of hazardous materials in the inspection documents from 2021, Khachunts stated that since they are not referenced, they assume that such materials were not present at the time of the inspection. “However, given that a criminal case has been initiated and the investigation is underway, I believe the preliminary investigation will clarify all these matters,” he remarked, not ruling out the possibility that such materials could have been introduced post-inspection.

When asked who is ultimately responsible for this tragedy, the UDTFI official stated that the lion's share of blame lies with the operator. “Although these areas are leased to various tenants, it remains to be seen what actions the tenant has taken. It wouldn’t be correct to only blame the landlord,” he added, noting that the landlord may not have even been aware of what was stored in their leased space.

The reporter suggested that it appears the effectiveness of the UDTFI’s work is in question, to which Khachunts responded that around 20 percent of facilities in Armenia fall under high-risk categories, totaling approximately 8,000 facilities, whereas the UDTFI can inspect a maximum of 500 of these annually, not including follow-up inspections. Thus, he indicated that it could take 16 years to inspect all these facilities just once.

“It would be preferable to have greater resources, allowing us to conduct monitoring more intensively,” he stated, adding that they have requested an increase in staffing levels, and were promised a boost in the number of inspectors.