‘I lost 8 toes and had 30% burns after horror nightclub accident – but I wouldn’t change it’

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Katya Komleva, 35, was at a nightclub in Yekaterinburg, Russia, when she was told to leave and ended up knee-deep in boiling water from a burst underground pipe

A woman who suffered a horror accident where boiling water ‘melted’ her legs and resulted in her losing 8 toes insists she will not let it define her.

Katya Komleva, 35, was out at a nightclub in Yekaterinburg, Russia, when people were told to leave the venue, but the moments that followed have changed her life forever.

When she got outside in bare legs and high heels, she ended up knee-deep in boiling water from a burst underground pipe.

Katya ended up wading around in 90-degree water for 10 minutes trying to get to safety and by the time medics got to her, her skin was “melting” from her legs – leaving her muscles visible.

Her family were told she might not survive at all and she spent two years in hospital trying to get better following the 2011 accident. She lost eight toes and 30% of her body was left scarred by the boiling water.

Katya has since quit her digital marketing CEO job, travelled the world, tried extreme sports, wrote a book and became a confidence coach – determined to make the most of life.

She said if she went back in time, she wouldn’t even change what happened – and refuses to wear prosthetics or have any treatment to reduce her scars because she doesn’t want to hide them.

Katya, who now lives in Mexico City, Mexico, said: “I remember stepping into something wet and I felt this pain.

“You think you experience pain, but this was like another origin, it felt like something that could kill you.

“When I had been rescued, I looked down at my legs and ankles and saw the skin literally melting. I spent two years of my life in hospital and I was told I’d never walk again. That was a future I prepared for.

“But deep down I always knew I would walk again. I didn’t even care about the amputations.

“Now, others will find my body disgusting but I find my scars aesthetically attractive, and I don’t want to hide them.

“Looking back, getting my burns was one of the best things in my life. I felt like I was sleeping and I woke up, on a mental and spiritual level.

“If I had the offer to go back in time and avoid the accident, but remain the person I was, I would say no. I’d go through the whole experience again to be where am now.”

It transpired that an underground pipe filled with boiling water had exploded.

Katya was given just a 50% chance of survival after the incident which saw her hospitalised for two years and changed her life for good.

Then a student, she had been out with friends at a nightclub when the DJ announced the club was closing for a ‘technical reason’.

She headed towards the doors and was the first to be let out, being warned she wouldn’t be let back in again, she said.

She said: “The floor was wet, but I had heels on so I didn’t feel the temperature, and it was very foggy outside, but it is foggy sometimes in Russia.

“As soon as they shut the doors, the nightmare started. I stepped and felt this pain, but by then they had shut the doors and turned off the electricity.

“The fog was actually steam, I couldn’t see my hand outstretched. I became so disorientated. “My psychologist later explained that my brain just shut down, I was working on instinct, it forced me into fight or flight.

“Instead of figuring out how to turn back I just kept moving forward into the water. I was just driven by the desire to survive and I knew I didn’t have much time.

“I was walking in the water for between five and ten minutes I think, but it was impossible to say how much time passed.

Eventually, in a state of delirium, Katya spotted a figure in the distance and walked towards them in search of safety.

She was rescued by a passing friend who happened to be driving by, and an ambulance turned up which she was taken into.

She said: “At that moment I knew I could die.

“I looked down at my legs and clearly understood that a person without anaesthesia should not see her body like that.”

She was taken to hospital where she spent two years recovering and learning to walk again after having amputations. In the early stages, she was too weak for surgery and caught sepsis twice due to the toxins that had got into her blood.

When Katya was finally discharged two years later, life looked very different for her – but she was determined to see it as a chance to change her life.

She said: “Now I feel like I have some super power, I was almost dying and now I feel I’m here for something. After two years in hospital and any absence of anything in my life, I wanted to believe life is worth living.

“It brought me the idea that I have a purpose, which is to help others, and it changed my perspective.”

She said despite having other personal insecurities, her burns and eight and a half amputated toes have never been one of them – and has been comfortable showing off her scars.

“Very hot guys come and get to know me at the swimming pool, where the most unaesthetic parts of my body are on show,” she said.

“I’m still beautiful, it’s all about the confident energy.

“In the gym, if I change my shoes, people stare and I think I’ve got something in my teeth until my friend reminds me it’s because I don’t have toes. Some people will look at me because they find my body disgusting, others will find me attractive.

“Yeah, I lost my toes, but it’s nothing. The best recipe is to stop suffering and start living.”