ArcelorMittal: Trapped miners may be dead

It is unlikely that the trapped miners are still alive, said steel giant ArcelorMittal, which owns the Tentekskaya coal mine in central Kazakhstan's Karaganda region. Dozens of rescuers were searching for them. Ninety-five other workers were safely evacuated after the collapse, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Coal mines across the former Soviet Union are plagued by deadly accidents. In Kazakhstan, authorities have criticized ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the Luxembourg-based steel-maker's Kazakh subsidiary, for a poor safety record.

There have been several other accidents at the company's mines in the country, though it says it plans to invest heavily in improving safety conditions at its Kazakh facilities.

In Monday's accident, the discharge of methane gas put pressure on coal seams, causing the collapse, authorities said.

"Fortunately the evacuation procedure worked well and we have managed to bring 95 people safely to the surface," Frank Pannier, head of ArcelorMittal in Kazakhstan, said in a statement. "Nevertheless, it looks as though there have been five tragic fatalities as a result of the accident."

Information on casualties could not be confirmed, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Minister Vladimir Bozhko said earlier that the trapped men would be able to survive up to five hours if emergency respiration equipment worked as expected.

It was too early to speculate on the exact cause of the collapse, Pannier said.

An investigative commission set up by Prime Minister Karim Masimov said in preliminary findings that the accident may have been caused by natural phenomena, not human error.

The rescue operation was hampered by the amount of fallen rubble, Karaganda Governor Nurlan Nigmatulin said at a government meeting. Around 1,000 tons of coal may have collapsed at a depth of 1,600 feet (500 meters), he said.