On the evening of February 26, an explosion occurred at the "Plov Center" cafe in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan. According to preliminary reports, the tragedy was caused by the detonation of a gas cylinder—an explosion of a gas-air mixture caused a massive fire in a building attached to a five-story residential building, tengrinews.kz reports.

Firefighters arrived on scene within five minutes of receiving the call. During the firefighting process, they managed to remove eight gas cylinders from the burning building and rescue more than ten people inside.

According to the latest reports, the number of injured has reached 26. Seven of them died: five died at the scene, and two more died in intensive care. Among the victims was a 16-year-old girl. Most of the survivors suffered burns of varying severity. Thirteen people remain hospitalized, and six were discharged after examination and necessary care. Three additional intensive care teams from the regional center were dispatched to the city to treat the victims.

A criminal case has been opened into the explosion. Investigators are pursuing various theories about the incident; third-party involvement and terrorism have been ruled out at this stage.