Six Sentenced over Deadly Gulistan Teahouse Explosion

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Six people have been sentenced in Uzbekistan over a gas cylinder explosion at the Bek teahouse in Gulistan on 2 December 2025 that killed six cooks and injured dozens of others.

The Akaltyn District Criminal Court delivered its verdict on 21 September 2026.

According to the case materials, the explosion was caused by a gas leak from a cylinder manufactured in 2010. The cylinder cracked after being exposed to high temperatures from a burner on a kitchen boiler. Its last technical inspection had been conducted in 2015.

The kitchen also used gas cylinders manufactured in 2000, 2013 and 2018 that had not undergone timely technical inspections.

The day before the incident, employees of the establishment took four cylinders to a vehicle gas-filling station in Mirzaabad District.

Although the station was not licensed to sell liquefied gas for domestic cylinders, the cylinders were filled. On the morning of 2 December, they were connected to kitchen stoves and boilers. One of the cylinders exploded at 10:50 a.m.

The teahouse manager partially admitted guilt. He explained that, since October 2025, the establishment had begun using propane cylinders because of low gas pressure. He said he had authorised their use without fully understanding the requirements of the relevant regulations.

The manager also said the establishment had provided financial assistance to the injured and the families of those killed. In court, he apologised to the victims’ relatives and asked the court to take into account that he had four dependent children, one of whom has a disability.

Three defendants were found guilty of violating occupational safety and fire safety regulations, resulting in serious consequences. The other three were convicted of violating occupational safety regulations.

The teahouse manager was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and banned for two and a half years from holding positions involving financial responsibility at catering establishments.

Two other defendants received prison sentences of three years and one month each and were barred from working in the catering sector for one and a half years.

The remaining three defendants were sentenced to restricted freedom. One received a four-year restriction, along with a two-year ban on conducting business involving vehicle fuel filling. Two others received restricted-freedom sentences of three and a half years each 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. The seizure will remain in place until the claims of interested parties have been considered.

In the first days after the explosion, reports said three people had been killed and 29 hospitalised with burns of varying severity. The death toll later rose to six.

On 4 December 2025, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the injured at the Syrdarya Regional Branch of the Republican Scientific Centre for Emergency Medical Care and expressed condolences to the families of those killed.