Fifteen servicemen were killed and three more were wounded, three of them seriously, in a blaze on Thursday that had ripped through a military base in Armenia overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

As per the details, the fire broke out at the barracks of an engineer and sniper team of a military unit.

Read Also: Six People Including A Six-Month-Old Baby Dead In California Home Shooting

“Fifteen servicemen were killed as a result… The condition of three (other) servicemen is assessed as serious,” the ministry added in a statement.

The details further said that the fire started around 1:30 AM in Azat, a village in the eastern region of Gegharkunik, near the border with Azerbaijan.

The incident was “a result of the violation of safety rules, during which banned substances were used”, Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan was quoted saying, citing preliminary information. “We are talking about gasoline,” he said.

On the other hand, Papikyan initiated a military command team and a senior officer’s dismissal after the incident.

The investigation into violations of safety procedures was preceded by a criminal probe.

In August 2022, more than a dozen people were killed in an explosion and then resulting fire in a busy market in the city of Yerevan, the country’s capital.