A court in Fergana has issued a verdict in the case of the explosion at the Petrolium gas station, where a woman and three children died on December 17, 2024. The station’s manager, Mansur Matkarimov, was sentenced to five years in prison. He is also required to pay 310 million soums (about $25,000) for each victim — less than the compensation awarded for the destroyed BMW and Kia vehicles.
The tragedy was caused by the illegal installation of propane equipment. Gas leaked during refueling and triggered an explosion. The victims were a mother with her two sons, aged 2 and 4, and an 8-year-old niece. Nine others were injured.
Three more people were convicted: the equipment installer received four years of restricted liberty, while two others were sentenced to three years and four years and three months in prison for forging documents. The total damage was estimated at 4.78 billion soums.
The court ordered Matkarimov to pay 1.24 billion soums to the victims’ families and over 2.3 billion soums to the owners of damaged property.