Mother of Accident Victim Says Son Was Behind Wheel of Ural, Brakes Didn't Work

19-year-old contract soldier Hovhannes Hambardzumyan is one of the 20 injured in a military Ural that plunged into a ravine in Syunik recently. He was driving the vehicle. Hovhannes' mother, Angela Shegikyan, shared with NEWS.am that her son's condition is currently uncertain; it is serious, with spinal problems, broken ribs, and his leg is entirely in a cast.

“He is conscious, speaking, but he still needs spinal surgery; his vertebrae are fractured. The vehicle was faulty, the brakes didn't work, and it hadn't been driven for 5 years. They even found a nest of sparrows inside the car. They should take their kids, put them in that broken vehicle, and tell them to drive it. There were two soldiers from one platoon in the vehicle, but it’s not permissible to transport more than 16 people in that vehicle. There was a child about 30 kg in it,” the mother said.

“My son said he could barely drive the vehicle; he was told to turn it off; they shouted, saying to turn it off, we would be there for a long time. He was instructed to stand on the corpse so that it would drive itself. That’s why the brakes didn’t hold, because they were not maintained. My son had not driven that faulty vehicle before. He told me they had given him a broken vehicle, and I told him not to drive it. He had been in the positions; he came back, they put him in the vehicle, told him to take food to the posts. He took the food, but they all filled in on the way back,” she added.

It is worth mentioning that on April 12, around 15:25, the Ural transporting soldiers from the RA Ministry of Defense unit lost control under unclear circumstances and ended up in an adjacent ravine area. The Ministry of Defense reported that there are 4 fatalities. 20 soldiers sustained injuries, one of whom is in critical condition. The others have serious, moderate, and minor injuries.

The Ministry of Defense has released the names of the deceased soldiers: Arek Armeni Kerobyann, Slavic Vardani Vardanian, Davit Hambardzumi Hakobyan, and Joseph Melkoni Azolyan. According to the Ministry of Defense, 13 of the injured soldiers have been transferred to military hospitals in Yerevan and Sisian, while 7 soldiers with minor injuries do not require significant medical intervention.

The Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case under the article on violation of the rules for driving or operating vehicles. In the first four months of this year, 10 soldiers have died in peacetime conditions in the military.