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Armenia’s National Center for Crisis Management registered 42 cases of explosion in 2023, resulting in 6 fatalities and 53 injuries.

As of August 31 this year, the center recorded 34 blast cases with 9 dead and 39 injured, Major Artur Vardanyan told a press conference on Friday.

24 out of the 34 explosions were caused by gas leakage, whereas some 30 gas explosion cases were reported in 2023.

Vardanyan said in almost all cases basic safety rules were not observed. He called on people to strictly observe safety rules at home, when driving vehicles and at petrol stations.

In his turn, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, director of the National Center for Burns and Dermatology at the Armenian Health Ministry, said that the number of people applying to the medical center continued to increase due to violations of safety rules.

“Compared to previous years, an increase of almost 30% has been recorded due to failure to comply with basic rules,” he said.

“For example, you can smell gas, but for some reason someone decides to smoke. Or children play near a boiling kettle in the house, which can turn over and have severe consequences,” Hovhannisyan added.

He urged people not to self-medicate or seek help from healers in case of burns, but to go to the hospital immediately.