The entrance to the Kostenko coalmine in Karaganda. There were 252 people inside the mine when the fire started, ArcelorMittal said.The entrance to the Kostenko coalmine in Karaganda. There were 252 people inside the mine when the fire started, ArcelorMittal said.
“As of 3pm , the bodies of 42 people were found,” Kazakhstan’s emergency services said on social media. “The search for four miners continues.” The previous deadliest mine accident in post-Soviet Kazakhstan occurred in 2006, killing 41 miners at another ArcelorMittal site. It came two months after another incident that killed five miners.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered cooperation with the Luxembourg-based company to be “brought to an end”. “ArcelorMittal can confirm that the two parties have … signed a preliminary agreement for a transaction that will transfer ownership to the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the global steel company stated, adding it was committed to “finalising this transaction as soon as possible”.Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, about 200 miners have died in Kazakhstan, the vast majority at ArcelorMittal sites.