The major accident—in Tula Oblast (province) of Russia—of the Republic of Armenia-bound bus has occurred due the driver sleeping behind the steering wheel.

The Russian Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Investigation Department Chief, Aleksandr Savenkov, stated the aforementioned at Thursday’s hearings at the Russian State Duma Committee for Security and Anti-Corruption Measures.

“The driver had simply fallen asleep at the steering wheel,” Savenkov said, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

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 in Russia.

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.

Russia has opened a criminal case into this bus crash, and on charges of “breaking the road traffic and vehicle operation rules.” A similar case has been filed in Armenia, too.

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