YEREVAN. - Candle-lighting ceremony has been held today in Yerevan’s Liberty Square in memory of the victims of the Armenian bus, which crashed en route from Moscow to Yerevan Tuesday. Dozens of citizens are lighting candles on the Opera building stairs for the rest of the victims’ souls. (photos)

“Yesterday’s morning turned out to be a very bad and sad one; the day started with bad news. We have gathered to pay tribute to the relatives of all the victims, but this is the loss of all of us,” Armenian singer Christine Pepelyan, who was also in the Liberty Square, told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

There are not only candles, but also flowers and photos of the tragic accident on the Opera building stairs.

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.

Eight passengers died and 35 were injured. 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.