Only a few hundred people are now left behind in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, which Armenians call Stepanakert and Azeris call it Khankendi.

Most are sick people individuals Disabled and elderly who refused – or were unable – to leave their homes when Azerbaijani forces took control of the breakaway Armenian enclave, prompting the exodus of over 100,000 Armenians.

An official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today described the deserted roads as “surreal”.

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“The city has now been completely abandoned,” Marco Succhi, head of an ICRC team, said via video link from the Karabakh capital.

“Hospitals… are not functioning; the medical staff is gone; the water authorities are gone; the director of the morgue is also gone. So this scenario, the scene is kind of surreal.”

Members of the Red Cross are taking to the streets to help the residents who were left behind

An ICRC team is now scouring the streets with loudspeakers looking for residents left behind, he told reporters in Geneva.

One of them was Susanna, one old womana bedridden cancer patient who was beginning to present symptoms of anemia and malnutrition despite the supplies left for her by her neighbors.

“Personally, I have to say that it is very difficult to find the most vulnerable in need, in such circumstances, and finding Susanna all alone was a really touching moment,” he said.

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The elderly woman was transported by ambulance to Armenia.

Answering a question about Azerbaijan’s presence in the capital, he said that its police forces are patrolling the streets.