Aghasi Hovhannisyan, one of the servicemen who went missing and died during yesterday’s blizzard while moving from one military base of the military unit in Armenia’s Jermuk to another military base, was 29 years old, lived in Aragatsavan village and had a one-year-old boy.

In an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am, representatives of the village council said Aghasi’s family had lived in Aragatsavan for many years and that he had a brother.

“He got married and lived with his wife and their one-year-old boy in an apartment in a multi-apartment building. His father and brother left for abroad to work. After the outbreak of the coronavirus, he wasn’t able to leave for abroad to work and decided to join the army,” the representatives of the village council said, adding that Aghasi had been transferred to the military unit in Jermuk after serving in Karvachar during the war.

The other serviceman who had gone missing during the blizzard and stayed alive is 37-year-old contractual serviceman Karen Shahnazaryan. In an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am, Shahnazaryan’s wife, Agapi said her husband had been serving in the Armenian Army for nearly 15 years and that she found out about her missing husband on the Internet.

Armenian News-NEWS.am also talked to head of the military hospital Vahan Gevorgyan about Shahnazaryan’s health condition. Gevorgyan stated that his condition is medium grave and there is progress. “He has first and second degree frostbite in his legs, but his legs don’t need to be amputated,” he said.

On March 21, during a blizzard, two contractual servicemen lost contact while moving from a military base of a military unit of the Armed Forces of Armenia to another military base. On the evening of March 22, the Ministry of Defense reported that it had located the servicemen. According to presses, the shift of the servicemen was late for a few days. The two servicemen left the military position to get cigarettes and fuel and moved towards a military base that was at a distance of one-and-a-half kilometers. Due to the bad weather, they stayed there and were in a blizzard the day after.

Shahnazaryan’s son, Armen Petrosyan had saved the life a citizen who fell in a canal about a year ago.

The Military Prosecutor’s Office has launched a criminal case under the elements of negligent attitude towards service.