The Armenian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that three cars and a heavy truck collided on a highway about 40 kilometers northwest of Yerevan.
“According to a very preliminary assessment by road patrol officers, there was a problem related to brakes,” Interior Minister Arpine Sargsian told reporters in the Armenian parliament where she attended a meeting on the government’s 2027 budget proposal.
One of the opposition lawmakers present at the meeting, Edgar Ghazarian, blamed the ministry and Sargsian in particular for the deadly accident.
“Frankly, I didn’t expect you to come to the National Assembly today,” said Ghazarian. “I thought you will resign after last night’s tragedy.”
“I propose that deputies of the National Assembly led by you also resign when laws adopted by them are not enforced at any moment and in any place,” shot back the minister.
Ghazarian countered that Armenian parliamentarians are not legally empowered to enforce laws. He also disputed Sargsian’s claim that the Interior Ministry is not responsible for the state of Armenian roads and the technical condition of vehicles driving along them.
Armenia- The site of a deadly car collision in Shirak province, April 10, 2026.
The latest accident happened ten days after three other people -- a child and her parents -- died in a similar crash on the same highway. Another accident left six people dead and 11 others injured in the northwestern Shirak province in April.
The number of car crashes in the country has risen steadily in the past decade due to increasingly heavy traffic and what many see as lax and inconsistent road policing. The Armenian police reported 4,784 such cases last year, up from 4,314 in 2024.
Sargsian again downplayed the upward trend on Wednesday, saying that the number of traffic deaths is falling for a third consecutive year. According to the police, 283 people died on Armenian roads last year, down from 333 in 2024. The number of officially registered road deaths soared to 378 in 2023.
The police also say that many more Armenian motorists have had their driver’s licenses revoked in recent years because of repeated and serious traffic violations. They were until recently required to take new driving exams in order to regain their licenses. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian scrapped that requirement in the run-up to parliamentary elections held in June.