At 1:10 a.m. on October 1, 2005 a Belaz excavator rolled down the gorge at the Sotk mine. Gagik Shahnazaryan, the driver, and Vilik Aghadjanyan, a mine workman, were killed in the accident. A commission was created to investigate, made up of representatives of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, the Union of the Guilds of Miners, Metallurgists and Goldsmiths, the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC), and the Mining Department of the State Inspectorate of Industrial Safety and Accident Prevention. The various commission members offer different explanations for the accident.

Khachatur Babayan, senior expert for the Mining Department of the State Inspectorate of Industrial Safety and Accident Prevention, told us that the accident was the fault of the Belaz driver. Work had been interrupted for two hours because of a thick fog and driver Gagik Shahnazaryan had abandoned his worksite and gotten into the vehicle. Since it was cold, miner Vilik Aghadjanyan joined him, although he was not authorized to be in the driver's cab.

"No one had given him permission to leave. He was probably asleep and brushed against something with his feet accidentally, and the vehicle moved and rolled down the gorge," Babayan said.

According to Yevgeni Kozhemyakin, chairman of the Union of the Guilds of Miners, Metallurgists and Goldsmiths, the accident happened during work and it was Vilik Aghadjanyan's responsibility to give the driver directions so that he didn't lose his way. But since it was cold he got into the driver's cab - without permission. In contrast to Khachatur Babayan, Kozhemyakin blames the employer for the crash. He says that Gagik Shahnazaryan was working overtime when the accident happened. They worked twelve hours a day. According to the Labor Code the working day is eight hours, but the men had a second contract with the employer for overtime work.

"Operating a Belaz excavator is hard labor. The workers get exhausted. They can't do the same hard work for hours, and if they want to work overtime they should perform lighter work. The Indians [the AGRC is owned by an Indian company] exploit them," Kozhemyakin said. Khachatur Babayan also acknowledged that the workmen who were killed had been working overtime: "The work shifts should be scheduled, and at the proper time, but they worked for three days straight and naturally, they got tired. That day they were working for twelve hours; the Labor Code permits only four hours of overtime a week beyond regular hours."

According to our information, the management at the mine deducted the funeral expenses from the wages of employees.

A new Indian director was appointed at the Sotk mine last summer; according to Khachatur Babayan he is well versed in the mining industry. Babayan insists that since his appointment many changes have been made in the Sotk mine from the point of view of industrial safety and accident prevention, and the roads and the pits have been put in order.