Vera Narimanyan lost her two children last week. The single mother of three-year-old Leo and six-year-old Gita, who lives in Aghabekalanj Village in Karabakh’s Martakert region, left her sleeping children alone at home to walk 5 kilometers to the nearby town of Martakert to get cooking oil, sugar, and other foods.
Azerbaijan’s blockade of the region has caused critical supply shortages of essential foods and other household items. The lack of fuel means that a small amount of local production is unable to reach remote areas like Aghabekalanj. Deciding to spare her two children from the heat, she left them sleeping at home. After waking up, the children left their home to look for their mother, eventually reaching Martakert. The next day their lifeless bodies were discovered in a car parked on a street in Martakert. According to preliminary data, the children had gotten into the car, fallen asleep, and died from heat exhaustion.
