YEREVAN. – Armenia has initiated a criminal case into the Armenian passenger bus crash in Russia.

Press service of the Investigative Committee informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the alleged offense had also taken place as a result of putting vehicles with technical malfunctions into operation.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia on Tuesday filed a criminal case on this incident.

Investigative and judicial actions are still in progress.

In addition, the respective work is coordinated with the Russian law enforcement.

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

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

There are reports on eight casualties and 35 injured, and the latter were taken to the three 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.

The bus driver, Garnik Harutyunyan, 44, is detained.