Kazakhstan said on Saturday that 32 people were killed in a fire in yet another deadly accident in a mine owned by ArcelorMittal, with over a dozen still missing, in the Central Asian country's worst disaster in years.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called the Luxembourg-listed ArcelorMittal group the"worst" company"in our history" and ordered his government to take control of the Kazakh branch of the company.
"At the Kostenko mine as of 4 p.m. the bodies of 32 people have been found," the emergency situations ministry said in a statement."The search for 14 miners is continuing." He called for a day of national mourning on Sunday. He asked the deputy governor of the Karaganda region, Vadim Basin -- who used to work for ArcelorMittal -- to head the company. Earlier, Kazakhstan's government said it would work towards nationalisation.
"Our efforts are aimed at that and on the tight cooperation with state authorities," it said. Officials said 18 people had been hospitalised after the fire.