Garnik Harutyunyan, the driver of the bus which crashed en route from Moscow to Yerevan, has been arrested, Artak Ghazaryan, representative of the Armenian Embassy in Russia told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

According to him, both drivers – Bagrat Hovakimyan and Garnik Harutyunyan – were invited to the police station. But when it was found out that Garnik Harutyunyan was at the wheel, Hovakimyan was released. “Criminal case has been launched, but Garnik Harutyunyan hasn’t been charged,” Ghazaryan said.

Garnik Harutyunyan is from Aramus village of Armenia’s Kotayk province.  His relatives don’t believe that he was at the wheel during the tragedy.

The passenger bus, which was traveling from Moscow to Yerevan, had the accident on Tuesday at around 2:10am, in the Uzlovsky District in Tula Oblast (province), Russia.

There were 59 passengers on the bus, but no children were among them.

At present, there are reports on eight casualties and 47 injured, and the latter were taken to the nearby hospitals.

A technical malfunction in the vehicle is considered a probable cause of this tragedy. But there is also a possibility that the bus driver might have fallen asleep behind the steering wheel.