The Body May Be Ashen: Emishyan on the Ongoing Situation in the Surmalu Area Regarding the Missing Citizen

After the explosion at the 'Surmalu' shopping center, the body of one of the missing citizens has yet to be found. It is not ruled out that it may be ashen. This was stated by the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Hovhannes Emishyan, during a conversation with journalists at the scene.

"In areas where it was possible for the citizen to be, we have conducted searches; in other words, we checked all potential locations. We have checked the basement and the first floor as well. As for the storage area, we have been extinguishing the fire for over 20 hours, as temperatures have been between 500 to 1000 degrees," Emishyan said.

In response to journalists' questions about the possibility of the body being ashen, Emishyan confirmed that yes, it could be. However, he noted that there was 1 to 1.5 meters of ash in that area, making it impossible to conduct an examination of the ash. Nevertheless, according to Emishyan, search and rescue operations continue at this time, although they have ruled out finding the body on the first and second floors. On the other hand, he emphasized that if there is even a 1% chance of finding the missing person, search and rescue operations will not cease.

He also added that searches for fragments among the ashes have been conducted, but they have not managed to find anything either. Emishyan mentioned that there is still a 40 square meter area left for search and rescue operations.