By KARAGANDA. Oct 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The death toll of the fire at the Kostenko mine in Karaganda, Kazakhstan has grown to 32 people, the press service for the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry said.
“As of 4 p.m., 32 dead bodies were found in the Kostenko mine, and the search for 14 miners is continuing,” the press service said. It was reported earlier that the death toll was 28.
In the meantime, the press service for the ArcelorMittal Temirtau company operating the Kostenko mine said that the operations of the company’s coal mine was suspended for 24 hours following the fire.
“The operations of the mines of the coal department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC were suspended for the next 24 hours. Inspections of gas protection systems will be carried out in this period,” the press service said.
The fire broke out at the Kostenko mine operated by ArcelorMittal Temirtau in the early hours of Saturday. A total of 252 people were in the mine, the majority of them were brought to the surface.
ArcelorMittal Temirtau owns 15 coal and iron ore mines in Kazakhstan.
