‘The soldier bent the bars and escaped in a half-burned condition.’ What villagers are saying

The residents of Azat village, part of the Vardenis enlarged community, revealed in conversations that after the 44-day war, the sappers from the Defense Ministry's military unit distinguished themselves from others and served in a one-story house in the village. The accommodation for the sappers was a single-story structure with three rooms. Villagers recount that the stove was installed near the door of the room. “The soldiers couldn’t leave through that door; they remained inside the room and suffered from smoke inhalation,” said one of the officials from Azat.

It appears that the stove blocked the exit, preventing the boys from escaping. “An instantaneous fire broke out after one of the boys tried to bring a 5-liter container closer to the stove and attempted to pour gasoline on the extinguished fire to ignite it,” the official recounted.

Residents also mentioned that one of the conscript soldiers managed to get out. As of now, he is in a half-burned condition. “There were bars on the windows; he bent the bars and escaped.”

In the morning, news spread in the village that there had been an explosion at the military unit, possibly involving some materials or an ammunition depot, but these reports were later denied. “There was definitely no explosion; no one heard an explosion,” our interlocutors said.

Currently, journalists are in the village. The bodies of 15 fallen conscript soldiers were transferred from Azat before dawn. As reported, the fire broke out today around 1:30 AM at the engineer-sapper company’s barracks in Azat village. During a government session, Prime Minister Pashinyan described the incident as “horrific.” Defense Minister Suren Papikyan also stated that the fire reportedly ignited due to violations of fire safety regulations, with a large amount of gasoline used at the time of the fire.