Doctors in the Turkistan region are fighting for the life of a 40-year-old woman who suffered severe burns in a gas explosion in an apartment in Zhetysai. According to relatives, despite the victim's serious condition, authorities are trying to place the blame on her. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing KTK TV channel.

The incident occurred in a two-story residential building. Relatives said the woman returned home carrying her seven-month-old child and turned on the light. At that moment, an explosion occurred, followed by a fire.

"She ran out holding the baby, engulfed in flames. Then two ambulances and firefighters arrived. The apartment was fully ablaze, with blue smoke," said the victim's relative Niyaz Uzbekov.

The child was not injured, according to medics. The woman herself suffered burns to nearly half of her body and is in intensive care.

"The woman was diagnosed with burns covering 47% of her body. Her face, arms, and legs were affected. Currently, her condition is stable but serious, and necessary treatment is being provided," said Nursultan Shoibekov, head of the intensive care unit at Zhetysai Central District Hospital.

The victim's relatives claim that a few days before the incident, preventive work was carried out on gas networks in the area, after which gas supply was restored. According to them, not all residents were notified about the reconnection.

"When it happened, I asked the gas workers: 'Who will be responsible for this?' They said no one would be, that she was to blame. They said they warned about the gas being turned on, and if someone didn't hear, it's not their fault," said the woman's ex-husband Rustam Sultanov.

The gas utility cites human error as the preliminary cause of the incident.

"Someone left the gas stove valve open. Our specialists were not informed about the smell of gas, no one called 104. During the reconnection, employees immediately went to these houses, but there was no smell at that time," said Baktybai Akeyev, director of Zhetysai District Gas Utility.

The victim's relatives demand a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident. It is known that the woman had rented the apartment with her three children just a few days before the explosion. Currently, the children have been temporarily taken by their father, and the victim is being prepared for transfer to a medical facility in Shymkent.