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The driver of the bus involved in a serious accident near Tula while en route from Moscow to Yerevan, as well as the company operating the bus provided services on legal grounds, and an investigation will find out who will bear responsibility for the crash and what kind of responsibility it will be, Armenian Minister of Transport and Communication Gagik Beglaryan said during a briefing in the parliament today.
“The state bears only humanitarian responsibility for that accident, we must help our compatriots at the difficult time,” Beglaryan said adding that the transport ministry will hold a meeting today to discuss the issue of paying compensation to the families of those who were killed and injured in the bus accident near Tula.

In his words, in all likelihood the families of the victims killed in the crash will receive 1 million drams or more, while the families of those injured will each receive less than 1 million drams. The exact amounts will be announced after the meeting.

The minister recalled that the Armenian government has covered the cost of transportation of the injured and the bodies of the victims to Armenia and the other costs.

The bus accident occurred around 2:10 am on November 3 at the 221st km of M-4 interstate highway in Tula region of Russia. Under still unclear circumstances the driver of Higer bus en route from Moscow to Yerevan lost control of the vehicle. The bus overturned and came to rest on its side. According to some media reports, the crash happened because the driver fell asleep at the wheel. But investigators do not rule out that he exceeded the speed limit. The crash left 9 people dead and 32 others injured. All the passengers of the bus were Armenian citizens. The bus was owned by an Armenian company, King Deluxe. On November 4 the Uzlovsky city court in Russia ruled that the bus driver Garnik Harutyunyan, 44, should be kept in detention for two months – until January 3, 2106.