A court in Mangystau region handed down the first conviction in Kazakhstan for a fatal bus crash caused by improper winter road maintenance, according to infohub.kz.
The Beyneu District Court heard the criminal case over the crash that occurred on January 16, 2026, on the national highway Dossor – Kulsary – Beyneu – Say-Otes – Shetpe – Zhetibay – Aktau.
On that day, a Yutong passenger bus skidded off the road due to black ice and overturned, killing five people and injuring 14 others.
The main transport prosecutor's office said the tragedy was caused by improper winter road maintenance, with investigators finding a direct causal link between the inaction of responsible officials and the deaths.
Prosecutors noted this is the first criminal case in Kazakhstan's legal practice where inadequate winter road maintenance served as grounds for criminal liability for deaths.
The court found the head of DEU-57, a branch of the Mangystau regional affiliate of KAZhService LLP, guilty under Part 4 of Article 353 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to two years and six months of probation.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
Earlier, we reported that over three days, Kazakhs committed more than 22,000 traffic violations nationwide.