In August, 2011, the company was four months into a wildcat strike at Uzenmunaigas. On 2 August, Zhaksylyk Turbaev, a trade union member working for an oilfield service company in Zhanaozen, was killed. On 24 August 2011, the 18-year-old daughter of an elected member of the strike committee was found dead and apparently murdered, according to the striker. Zhansaule Karabalayeva was found in the countryside near the oilfield in Western Kazakhstan with multiple injuries, according to her father, Kurdaibergen Karabalayev, in a telephone interview on 27 August. Bulat Abilov, an opposition politician, said "I don't think this is unconnected to the strike." "The local chief of police, quoted in a local paper, said the killing was not related to the strike. The company spokesman declined comment," according to one report.