Prosecutors in Tashkent's Chilanzar district have opened a criminal case over violations of sanitary legislation after 16 Kazakh citizens — young footballers and their relatives — were hospitalized in the Uzbek capital, infohub.kz reports.
According to NUR.KZ, citing Gazeta.uz, Uzbekistan's Prosecutor General's Office launched the investigation after children who had come from Kazakhstan to take part in a football tournament, along with the relatives accompanying them, were hospitalized. The case was opened under the article of the Criminal Code covering violations of sanitary legislation or epidemic-control rules. A preliminary investigation is being conducted by the investigative department of the Chilanzar district internal affairs coordination directorate.
On November 2, the Karaganda Region Department of Physical Culture and Sports said the region was represented at the tournament by private football schools in three age categories. At that time, 16 children, one coach and 11 parents were known to have been hospitalized. All of them had been staying and eating at a hotel in Tashkent.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health later provided an update on the condition of the young footballers from Karaganda who were hospitalized in Tashkent after breakfast at the hotel. Kazakhstan's embassy in Uzbekistan also issued a statement on the mass poisoning of the children.