Sixty-seven visually impaired workers at the "Etchmiadzin Industrial Training Institute" have been laid off - victims of the worldwide economic crisis. The insitute had been making parts used in the assembly of elevators by the Karachevski factory in Moscow. The Russian concern was the institute's largest customer. Last year, as a result of the ruble's depreciation, the factory went out of business. Vachagan Soghoyan, the Etchmiadzin Institute's director, noted that, "Right now there are nineteen people working here but they are nor involved in production. They are managers and guards." Mr. Soghoyan also noted that the firms that had been doing business with the Karachevski factory have also been shut and that the economic chain reaction has been quite debilitating for the institute's business. He stated that the workers would be rehired if large orders came through but he didin't pin these hopes on the domestic market. Any such orders would have to come from overseas.