YEREVAN. – The Government of Armenia will pay for the burial of those dead and the treatment of those injured in the bus crash in Tula Oblast (province) of Russia.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan stated the above-said at the start of Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

Abrahamyan added that this decision was reached during a discussion with President Serzh Sargsyan. 

The PM recalled that a working group, led by the ministers of transport and communication and of health, have traveled to Tula Oblast, to render immediate assistance to the bus crash victims who are receiving medical treatment on location. 

Hovik Abrahamyan also thanked the Russian government, especially PM Dmitry Medvedev and Transportation Minister Maksim Sokolov. 

Over four dozen people were affected as a passenger bus, which was traveling from Moscow to Yerevan, crashed on Tuesday at around 2:10am local time, in Tula Oblast.

Seven people were killed on the spot while another passenger died in hospital. Nine of the injured are in serious condition.

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

The injured 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 Tula provincial court on Wednesday handed down a two-month arrest for the driver of this bus, Garnik Harutyunyan.