Kazakhstan said Saturday that 32 people died in a fire in yet another deadly accident at a mine owned by ArcelorMittal, with over a dozen still missing, in the Central Asian country’s worst disaster in years.
The fire was one of the deadliest in Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet history and came just two months after five miners were killed in a blast at a site owned by the company. He asked the deputy governor of the Karaganda region, Vadim Basin, who used to work for ArcelorMittal, to head the company.No cause of the accident had been announced, with Tokayev saying an investigative commission would be set up.The fire was Kazakhstan’s worst mining accident since 2006, when 41 miners died at an ArcelorMittal site, and came two months after five miners were killed in a blast this summer.
“Please convey words of sympathy and support to the families of the killed miners,” Putin said in a statement.After the fire at an ArcelorMittal coal mine in August, Tokayev denounced the “systemic character” of accidents involving the company that he said had left more than 100 people dead since 2006.