Ministry of Emergency Situations
of the Republic of Armenia

The Ministry of Emergency Situations has been equipped with a vehicle having a freezer unit. With the support from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the “KAMAZ-4308” truck, registered in the Department's balance sheet, was re-equipped with a freezer unit which will allow to carry out a proper transfer of human remains. Deputy Minister of ES Davit Hambaryan and Deputy Head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia Myriam El Kholi signed a memorandum of understanding.

Deputy Director of the Rescue Service Hovhannes Yemishyan, Head of the Medical Care Provision Department Karen Atoyan, Head of the Rescue Forces Department Armen Gevorgyan, Forensic coordinator Ana Maria Boza Arlotte and Logistics coordinator Artur Ghazaryan also participated in the event.

The freezer trunk for the proper transfer of human remains is able to carry out 12 bodies at once. It can also be used in far-flung regions, and the freezing process is provided both by a power supply and in a self-sufficient way.
Referring to the effective collaboration with the ICRC, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Davit Hambaryan noted that this support was a very important manifestation of the cooperation.

“The Ministry of Emergency Situations has always cooperated with various structures regarding the proper transfer of human remains. Hereinafter, the implementation of the process will be at a higher institutional and organizational level due to the freezer trunk with the necessary furnishing," Davit Hambaryan noted.

In his turn, Head of the Medical Care Provision Department Karen Atoyan, informed that the rescuers had passed trainings of several stages within the framework of the program.

“Initially, we trained teams the rules of conduct for searching for bodies together with the colleagues. 4 teams have already been formed and the next phase of the work is related to the trunk. In addition, our department has got an offer from the ICRC to prepare specialists for forensic first response. Specialists of the American University of Armenia will organize online training courses for them,” - he said.

At the end of the meeting, Myriam El Kholi thanked the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of RA and stated that since the very first day the bilateral cooperation had been at a very high level.