The first house of the Verishen settlement of Syunik region, which was targeted by the Azerbaijani army, belonged to the Harutyunyans. Gurgen Harutyunyan says that the sounds of gunshots became more frequent and came closer.
They aimed to find shelter in the basement area, but they did not manage to go down to the basement. The first rocket hit the house between 1:10 and 1:20 on September 13 when they were standing at the gates. The rocket first hit the roof, then the ceiling, then the walls, creating a large hole, and then the basement.
“I’m lucky that it didn’t explode in the house because if it had exploded in the house, a big fire could have started, which would have turned into bigger destruction and brought bigger problems for our family. When a shell fell on our house, we wanted to enter the apartment to prevent a fire that might break out. However, the great wave of gunpowder smell, smoke, and dust did not allow us to enter the apartment. We found refuge in the neighbor’s shelter for about an hour and a half, after which we managed to enter the apartment. We entered the apartment and saw what you are witnessing now: the whole house, in general, has become dangerous,” says Gurgen Harutyunyan.
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He added that according to preliminary data, the house was hit by an artillery shell. “I want only one thing: I long for all similar unleashings, fights, wars, to end with similar collapse of buildings, and no family member, no soldier standing on the border, and no military personnel will be in any danger.” Her grandmother Ella Asatryan said that when she was in Goris, she thought that Goris was being attacked, and the girl, who is a soldier and lives in Verishen, took shelter in a cave.
“They lined up the grass. They laid down on the grass, that’s how they lived, on the grass, so what should they do? They took small gas, drank coffee, nothing else. What should they do? You won’t be able to get out of the cave, they are hitting, eh… they are constantly hitting.”
Mrs. Ella compares the current situation with the 44-day war, when everyone supported Artsakh, and is upset that Syunik does not receive support. “There is no support, nothing. We have never seen anything like this in our life. We say, at that time they showed that such a group was coming from Yerevan to Karabakh, now there is no help, nothing.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
