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A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced six people in connection with a gas cylinder explosion at the Bek teahouse in Gulistan that killed six kitchen workers and injured dozens more on 2 December 2025. The Akaltyn District Criminal Court delivered its verdict on 21 September 2026, nearly ten months after the blast.
The explosion occurred at 10:50 a.m. when a cylinder cracked after being exposed to high temperatures from a burner on a kitchen boiler. The cylinder had been manufactured in 2010 and last inspected in 2015. The kitchen also held cylinders made in 2000, 2013 and 2018, none of which had undergone timely technical inspections. The day before the incident, staff had taken four cylinders to a vehicle gas-filling station in Mirzaabad District — a facility that was not licensed to dispense liquefied gas for domestic cylinders — where they were filled regardless. The cylinders were connected to kitchen stoves and boilers the following morning.
Manager Admitted Partial Guilt
The teahouse manager told the court that the establishment had switched to propane cylinders in October 2025 because of low mains gas pressure, and that he had authorised their use without fully understanding the applicable safety regulations. He partially admitted guilt, apologised to the relatives of those killed, and asked the court to consider that he has four dependent children, one of whom has a disability. He also said the establishment had provided financial assistance to the injured and to the families of the deceased.
Three defendants were convicted of violating both occupational safety and fire safety regulations with serious consequences; the other three were found guilty of violating occupational safety regulations.
Sentences and Asset Seizures
The manager received three and a half years in prison and a two-and-a-half-year ban on holding positions involving financial responsibility at catering establishments. Two other defendants were each sentenced to three years and one month in prison and barred from working in the catering sector for one and a half years.
The remaining three defendants received restricted-freedom sentences rather than imprisonment. One was given a four-year restriction and a two-year ban on conducting business involving vehicle fuel filling. The other two each received three-and-a-half-year restricted-freedom sentences and were barred from working at vehicle gas-filling stations for two years.
The court also upheld the seizure of real estate valued at 8.7 billion soums and eight vehicles belonging to Bek Family Cafe and Guliston GTSh, with the seizure to remain in place until the claims of interested parties have been resolved.
Initial reports in the days after the explosion recorded three deaths and 29 hospitalisations with burns of varying severity; the death toll subsequently rose to six. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the injured at the Syrdarya Regional Branch of the Republican Scientific Centre for Emergency Medical Care on 4 December 2025 and expressed condolences to the families of those killed.