Victim of Military Barracks Fire Uncertain Why 15 Soldiers Did Not Exit Sleeping Quarters: Details Revealed

In the General Jurisdiction Court of Gegharkunik Province, presided over by Judge Vardan Harutyunyan, a court session was held today regarding the fire incident at a military barracks in the village of Azat that claimed the lives of 15 soldiers. During the hearing, victim Levon Kharatian, the soldier who attempted to extinguish the fire with his jacket upon seeing it, testified. He stated that he and fellow soldier Yeghishe Hakobyan called for help and tried to wake the other soldiers.

Kharatian recounted that on January 18, before the incident, they had been working at the military unit moving mines, after which they went to the barracks to maintain hygiene. Although they reportedly did not have a literal order to sleep at that time, Kharatian recalled that they went to pray. "Aram said, let's pray first and then sleep. We prayed, and then when I lay down, I was supposed to be on guard, but I don't remember the exact time, it was around 23:00-00:00. Usually, 15-20 were taken out by the guards. Radik Martirosyan came to take me out to go on duty. I went, changed my clothes, and went out with Radik," the soldier described, explaining that just a few minutes later, he returned inside when Yeghishe asked him to bring wood because the stove had gone out.

"As I went to bring the wood, Yeghishe wanted some kind of fuel, saying, 'How are you lighting it?'. Generally, we used a canister filled with sawdust. At that moment, I remember saying, 'I don't know where it is.' He said he would inform Vaghoy or Arsen, since he knew they were outside. I called one of them, I don't remember exactly who, and they seemed to have said they would bring it because there hadn’t been a situation before where someone refused to bring something needed for the stove," The victim explained. After that, he left and returned inside to get tea or coffee and saw that Yeghishe was on fire and the corridor in front of the sleeping quarters was ablaze.

"I immediately went inside, grabbed everything I could, and tried to extinguish it with my jacket. Then, realizing I couldn't put it out, we kept shouting 'It's an emergency, get out!' After I realized I couldn’t extinguish it, I entered where the fire was, the flames were widespread, I opened the door, stepped outside, and threw myself into the snow. After that, I remember that Yeghishe and one or two others were near the window, trying to get someone out. I recall one person managed to get out, to my recollection, it was Garush. Another soldier who was either 07 or 06 was taken to the hospital. I kept waking up and falling asleep repeatedly, and later I was in a coma for four days.

There were 22 soldiers in the engineering battalion, one of whom, Arthur Dzakhabekyan, was on leave during the incident. The soldier could not specify whom he heard from, but he was told that soldiers Vaghoy and Arsen had gone to fetch water, while Radik was the one on duty. Only two soldiers, Zhirayr and Varouj, managed to escape from the sleeping quarters during the incident. The victim could not clarify how far the temporary military barracks were from the checkpoint, but according to him, it was about 3-4 km away.