Moscow, Sept. 26, (dpa/GNA) – At least 20 people died and around 300 were injured when a fuel depot exploded in the disputed South Caucasian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said on Tuesday, as Azerbaijan and Armenia held “intense exchanges” during peace talks.
People were taken to hospital with varying degrees of injury after the explosion on Monday evening. It is not yet clear what caused the blast in the Armenian-majority region, which is now almost totally controlled by Azerbaijan following last week’s military operation.
Azerbaijan said it is ready to treat victims of the explosion and hospitals in several districts were ready to take in a large number of patients, Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev said, according to media reports.
The explosion was not far from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is claimed as sovereign by ethnic Armenians but is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Thousands of residents are now fleeing to neighbouring Armenia, some of whom were queueing for petrol when the explosion occurred. The number of refugees who have left for the Armenian motherland had risen to around 19,000 people. The government in Yerevan has promised the refugees shelter.
Representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the conflict and the needs of the local population.
The meeting was hosted by diplomatic advisers of European Council President Charles Michel and attended by Armenian official Armen Grigoryan and Azerbaijan’s Hajiyev.
Diplomatic advisers from Germany and France also participated in the talks, an EU press release said.
Participants took part in “intense exchanges” on a possible meeting between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the upcoming European Political Community summit in Granada, Spain, next week.
Michel has repeatedly tried to mediate between the parties and last hosted a meeting in Brussels between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in July.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region’s human rights office meanwhile appealed to the world community, saying that there was an urgent need to fly out people for treatment, especially those who were seriously injured in the petrol station explosion.
“Nagorno-Karabakh’s medical capacity is insufficient to save people’s lives,” said the message posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which has long been contested between the two hostile former Soviet republics, is already dire.
For months, Azerbaijan has blocked the only Armenian access road, which is why food, medicine and petrol are scarce in the region.
The European Union is to provide a total of €5 million ($5.3 million) in humanitarian funding for people affected by the conflict.
“We must be prepared to support the thousands who have decided to flee Nagorno-Karabakh, especially as the upcoming winter is likely to expose the refugees to additional challenges,” EU Crisis Commissioner Janez Lenarčič said in a statement.
“The EU is drastically stepping up its humanitarian aid in the region to provide emergency relief to people in need, both within the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, and to people now displaced in Armenia.”
Last week the European Commission announced a first aid tranche of €500,000.
Brussels hopes the financial support will benefit around 25,000 people in the region by providing cash assistance, shelter and food through aid organizations active on the ground.
During the brief fighting last week, more than 200 people died and more than 400 were injured, according to Armenian figures. The tens of thousands of Armenian civilians in the region now fear being displaced or oppressed by Azerbaijan.
In Armenia, there have been major protests against the government, which, according to the demonstrators, has done too little for the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.
GNA