Kostenko: Fifth Tragedy at AMT Facilities in a Year

News about the explosion at Kostenko surfaced at 8:00, 28 October, 2023. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that as of 19:30 29 October, 2023, 45 miners' bodies have been found and the search from one is ongoing. This is the fifth tragedy at the facilities of ArcelorMittal Temirtau since November 2022. 

Initially, 7 deaths were reported. A total of 252 miners were underground at the time of the explosion.

President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev expressed condolences to the relatives and friends of the miners and instructed to provide them with all necessary assistance.

A preliminary agreement has already been reached with the shareholders of AMT on the transfer of ownership of the enterprise to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The necessity to terminate cooperation with AMT and transfer the company's facilities to the state has been discussed many times in recent years. In the last 12 months alone there have been four fatal accidents at AMT's mines.

On August 17, five people died due to a fire at the Kazakhstanskaya mine. The fire has yet to be extinguished. AMT's representatives had promised to maximize safety at their facilities at the time.

On January 5, a contracting organization's employee died from an electric shock in the chemical collection unit of ArcelorMittal Temirtau's sheet rolling shop No. 2.

On December 8, 2022, a gas worker died at the coke chemical production of the AMT metallurgical combine.

On November 3, 2022 at the mine named after Lenin there was release of methane, killing five miners.

Over the 28 years that ArcelorMittal Temirtau has owned coal and metallurgical facilities in Kazakhstan, more than 140 people have died.  Orda.kz wrote about this in detail last year after the tragedy at the Lenin mine.

The 2000s are marked by the largest disasters.

In 2004, 23 miners were killed due to a gas explosion at the Shakhtinskaya mine.

In 2006, a methane explosion at the Lenin mine claimed the lives of 41 people.

In 2008, 30 miners were killed in an explosion at the Abayskaya mine near Sarani.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original text for accuracy. The text has been updated with current information as of 30/10/2023