Three of the four persons detained in connection with the explosion at the Surmalu shopping market in Yerevan have been arrested, and whereas the petition to arrest the detained deputy director of the Yerevan Canning Factory has been denied. Arevik Khachatryan, head of the public relations department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, informed Armenian News-NEWS.am about this.

The deputy director of the Yerevan Canning Factory has been charged under Armenia’s Criminal Code article on violating the fire safety rules or requirements, which negligently caused the death of a person or other serious consequences.

The other three persons who were detained and then arrested are the operators of the Surmalu market warehouse, and one of them is a leaseholder there. They have been charged under the Criminal Code article on negligently depriving the lives of two or more persons.

A strong explosion took place at the Surmalu shopping market on August 14. As a result, 16 people died and one person is considered missing. The search for this missing person, however, has stopped.