[1/2] Relatives of miners gather at the Kostenko coal mine operated by ArcelorMittal Temirtau during a power outage, as a rescue operation continues following a mine fire, in Karaganda, Kazakhstan October 28, 2023. On Saturday, operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said 206 of 252 people at the Kostenko mine had been evacuated after what appeared to be a methane blast. Gennady Silinsky, a senior emergency services official, on Sunday confirmed the death toll and continuing operation in Karaganda, a major coal mining centre, to Kazakhstan's Khabar-24 television. "Work is going on round the clock in shifts in two areas of operations," Murat Katpanov, another emergency official, told Khabar-24. Earlier statements said rescue operations in the two areas - 4 km (2.5 miles) apart - were hampered by power cuts and wrecked equipment.

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Persons: ArcelorMittal Temirtau, Stringer, ArcelorMittal, Gennady Silinsky, Kazakhstan's, Murat Katpanov, Khabar, Mariya Gordeyeva, Andrew Osborn, Alexander Smith, Ron Popeski, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, ArcelorMittal, Sunday, Thomson Locations: Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Rights ALMATY, Luxembourg