The prime minister of Pakistan and Boris Johnson have been asked to intervene in the case of a British woman who died in Pakistan, with MPs and her family calling for transparency over the circumstances. Kelsey Devlin, a 27-year-old carer and mother of two from Burnley in Lancashire, died on 30 June in a hospital in Rawalpindi. A death certificate says the previously healthy young woman died of sepsis, a stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, but her family in Burnley say they were concerned about her welfare in Pakistan before her death. They are also alarmed by basic inconsistencies in the death certificate, such as getting her age wrong, incorrectly stating she was a Muslim and married, and falsely claiming she had had epilepsy since birth. The family and a colleague of Devlin’s say they were given conflicting accounts of how she fell ill shortly after arriving in Pakistan. She told the colleague she had been admitted with suspected malaria, but the family say they were first told she had a stomach bug and then coronavirus. Two MPs have written to Johnson and to Pakistan’s Imran Khan, saying: “The nature of the events that took place raises a number of suspicions and it is now essential that an independent investigation into this now takes place.” Antony Higginbotham, the MP for Burnley, and Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West, said Devlin’s family “genuinely believe that there is the possibility that Kelsey was killed, with her relationship with her partner described as one of coercion and control.” The MPs asked the two prime ministers to personally intervene in the case. They have also requested an exhumation of Devlin’s body “for the purpose of a full autopsy and repatriation to the UK, and [for] the children to be returned to the UK to their grandparents.” They wrote: “Should it be that Kelsey was in fact unwell and died due to illness … the family still has a right to transparency of the circumstances surrounding her death and the illness that caused it. They want and deserve answers to the concerns they have raised so they can get some closure and then be allowed to grieve for their daughter/sister. This can only be achieved with your intervention and commitment to get to the bottom of how Kelsey died.” The Guardian has learned that Devlin was in a romantic relationship with a British work colleague shortly before flying out to Pakistan. The colleague says that Devlin and her ex-partner, a Pakistani man whom she met in the UK when she was 16 and who is the father to her two children, had agreed to separate from her some time before her death. Devlin’s family in Burnley say the ex was very keen that their children receive an Islamic education in Pakistan and is now refusing to allow them to return home to the UK. Devlin travelled to Pakistan on 3 June with her eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son, bypassing the Covid travel ban because the children’s paternal grandmother was said to be dying. A few years ago Devlin moved to Wirral and she had recently begun training as a carer. The colleague, whom the Guardian has agreed not to name, said he and Devlin began a non-sexual, romantic relationship earlier this year. He says Devlin planned to come back from Pakistan on her own and leave the children for six months to attend a madrasa. The death certificate records the underlying cause of death as an “aciscemic stroke” and “VAP [ventilator-associated pneumonia]/sepsis”. It notes she was on maximum “inotropic support” to stabilise circulation and to optimise oxygen supply. As immediate and intervening causes it lists cardiopulmonary arrest. Higginbotham said he had asked Foreign Office officials in Pakistan to check on Devlin after her family raised concerns about her wellbeing before her death. He said they went to the hospital but were unable to gain access to her to see if she was happy in Pakistan or wanted to return to the UK. The Guardian asked the Foreign Office a series of questions, including what attempts it had made to assist the family before Devlin’s death. It did not answer the questions but sent a one-sentence statement saying: “We are supporting the family of a British national following her death in Pakistan.” The family in Burnley say they asked Lancashire police to help them before she died, and say an officer told them they could not intervene in a matter overseas. A Lancashire police spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of Miss Devlin’s death. We are liaising with relevant partners to support her family. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.” Police in Pakistan said they had not been asked to investigate the case and said no one had raised suspicions about Devlin’s death. The Guardian contacted Devlin’s ex-partner in Pakistan via WhatsApp and he expressed surprise at the notion that the death could be considered suspicious.