YEREVAN. – Right now, the chairman of the Urban Development Committee, Armen Ghularyan, is in the building, they are looking at the other parts of the building. The minister of emergency situations of Armenia, Feliks Tsolakyan, said this in a conversation with journalists Wednesday regarding the Yerevan building that has partially collapsed as a result of an explosion (PHOTOS).

"Probably, according to our preliminary data we had received from the seismic [protection service], the first, second and third entrances [of the building] are completely safe, there are doubts about the fourth entrance that need to be looked at, whereas the fifth entrance is the collapsed entrance,” Tsolakyan added.

He noted that the residents of the whole building were evacuated. "A decision will be made as to which of them will return, whereas the accommodation issue of those who have been deprived of their apartment will be decided during the day. No one can remain outside," the minister said.

As for the causes of the explosion, he said that it could have been a natural gas leak. “We suspect that the explosion took place in a second-floor apartment," Feliks Tsolakyan said.

Rescuers pulled 3 citizens out from under the rubble, one of whom was dead, and 19 others were evacuated.

As reported earlier, the National Center for Crisis Management of Armenia received a report Wednesday morning that an explosion had taken place in a Yerevan building due to a natural gas leak, and the building had partially collapsed.

First responders were dispatched to the scene.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Emergency Situations Feliks Tsolakyan were also there.

Rescuers have pulled out three persons from the rubble, but one of them has died, and 19 others were evacuated.

The two injured were hospitalized. Doctors say one of them—Svetlana S. (born in 1949)—is in moderate condition, whereas the other—a man about 50 years old—is in critical condition.