Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan opened today’s cabinet session by declaring a state of emergency in the country’s southern Syunik Province based on reports that tailings dam water had been seen flowing into the Voghji River.

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan told the cabinet members that he had been informed of the situation by Syunik Governor Hunan Poghosyan.

When asked by PM Nikol Pashinyan to specify the source of the pollutants, Papikyan said he wasn’t sure, but that signs pointed to the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant in Kajaran.