ArcelorMittal says gas 'Outburst' may have caused accident

LONDON: ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said an accident at a Kazakhstan coal mine that left five workers missing may have been caused by a gas "outburst."

"We think it was a gas outburst, not an explosion," Jean Lasar, spokesman for the Luxembourg-based company, said today. "The investigation is now under way."

The search for the five workers at the Tentekskaya mine is continuing, Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry said today. Ninety-five workers were rescued yesterday from the pit.

ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the steelmaker's Kazakh unit, plans to invest USD 260 million in safety this year after the government threatened to withdraw operating permits following an explosion in January that killed 30 workers at the Abaiskaya mine.

A blast at the company's Lenin mine killed 41 in September 2006. (