A fire broke out at a mine in Kazakhstan belonging to the global steel giant ArcelorMittal. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

At least 21 people were killed Saturday when a fire broke out at a mine in Kazakhstan belonging to the global steel giant ArcelorMittal, prompting the government to order an “end to investment cooperation” with the company.

It was the second deadly disaster in two months at an ArcelorMittal site in Kazakhstan, after five miners were killed in an accident at a mine in the same region in August.

“The government has been ordered to end investment cooperation with ArcelorMittal,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement shortly after the fire near the town of Karaganda, an industrial region in central Kazakhstan.

ArcelorMittal’s operations in the country have regularly been accused by authorities of failing to respect safety and environmental regulations.

At least 21 miners died at the Kostenko mine, and a search was continuing for 23 others who were among more than 200 underground when the fire struck, the company said in a statement.

Regional officials had said early that 40 rescuers had been sent to the site, with the government’s emergency response minister, Syrym Sharipkhanov, announcing he would be arriving on site soon.

No cause of the accident has yet been released.