At least 45 people have been killed in a fire at a coal mine in Kazakhstan. International news agencies reported this on Sunday. According to the French news agency AFP, this is the deadliest accident in the history of Kazakhstan. It is not yet clear exactly how the fire started, but it is probably a methane explosion.
According to ArcelorMittal, the mine’s owner, 206 of the 252 people at the Kostenko mine near the city of Karaganda were rescued. The search continues for one miner underground, although rescuers say the chances of him being found alive are slim.
‘Worst company in Kazakhstan’s history’
This fire joins a long list of disasters at the Kazakh sites of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, whose headquarters are in Luxembourg. Since Kazakhstan’s independence in 1991, approximately two hundred miners have died, the lion’s share at sites of this steel giant.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has announced that he will end cooperation with the steel giant and nationalize the local subsidiary. He called ArcelorMittal “the worst company in the history of Kazakhstan from the point of view of cooperation with the government.” Authorities had previously warned of inadequate safety standards and unions called for stricter government control. ArcelorMittal said on Sunday that it has made “numerous efforts to improve safety” in recent years.