At least 21 dead in Kazakhstan coal mine fire

A coal mine fire in central Kazakhstan killed at least 21 workers while another 25 remained unaccounted for on Saturday, the operating company ArcelorMittal Temirtau said in a statement.
Some 252 people were working at the Kostenko coal mine at the time of the blaze, believed to have been caused by a pocket of methane gas, the company said.
ArcelorMittal Temirtau is the local representative for Luxembourg-based multinational ArcelorMittal, the world’s second-largest steel producer. It operates eight coal mines across the Karaganda region and a further four iron ore mines in central and northern Kazakhstan.
The fire is the latest in a string of workplace deaths at sites operated by ArcelorMittal Temirtau. In August, four miners were killed after a fire erupted at the same mine, while five people died following a methane leak at another site in November 2022.