YEREVAN. – The National Assembly (NA) of Armenia commenced Tuesday’s special session with a minute of silence to honor the memory of those who lost their lives in the recent passenger bus crash in Russia, and the cargo plane crash in South Sudan.

Before discussing the session’s agenda, NA President also expressed condolences to the relatives of the Armenians who died in these two tragedies, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Nine people were killed and over forty others were injured as a passenger bus, which was traveling from Moscow to Yerevan, crashed on November 3, in Tula Oblast (province) in Russia.

And a transport plane crashed on November 4 in South Sudan, immediately after takeoff. There were eighteen people aboard the aircraft, including five Armenian citizen crewmembers all of whom were killed in the crash. According to the latest data, the death toll in this tragic accident is forty.