ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Brazil Dam Collapse: Disaster Leaves 110 Dead, 238 Missing

President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.

Updated
Hot News
3 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

A week after a dam storing mining waste collapsed in southeast Brazil, the death toll rose to 110 with 238 reported missing, AP reported.

Parts of the city of Brumadinho were evacuated, and firefighters rescued people by helicopter and ground vehicles.

Local television channel TV Record showed a helicopter hovering inches off the ground as it pulled people covered in mud out of the waste.

President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.
A structure lays in ruins after a dam collapsed near Brumadinho, Brazil on Friday, 25 January.
(Photo: AP)

Photos showed rooftops poking above an extensive field of the mud, which also cut off roads. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an administrative office for Brazilian mining company Vale SA, where employees were present.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Awaiting News

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Josiele Rosa Silva Tomas, president of Brumadinho resident’s association, told The Associated Press over phone. “It was horrible ... the amount of mud that took over.”
President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.
An aerial view shows flooding triggered by a collapsed dam near Brumadinho, Brazil, Friday.
(Photo: AP)

Silva Tomas said she was awaiting news of her cousin, and many people she knew were trying to get news of loved ones.

Seven bodies had been recovered by late on Friday, according to a statement from the governor's office of Minas Gerais state.

Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said he did not know what caused the collapse. About 300 employees were working when it happened. About 100 had been accounted for, and rescue efforts were under way to determine what had happened to the others.

"The principal victims were our own workers," Schvartzman told a news conference Friday evening. He said a restaurant was buried by the mud at lunchtime.

Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais state, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes.

President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.
Cattle are covered by mining debris after a waste dam collapsed near Brumadinho, Brazil, Friday,
(Photo: AP)

Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Schvartsman said what happened on Friday was "a human tragedy much larger than the tragedy of Mariana, but probably the environmental damage will be less."

0

Earlier, there were no official reports of deaths, but the state fire department told The Associated Press that about 200 people were initially missing. The company said it did not have any further information.

President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.
An aerial view shows a collapsed bridge caused by flooding triggered by a dam collapse near Brumadinho, Brazil, Friday.
(Photo: AP)

President Jair Bolsonaro said he lamented the accident and sent three cabinet ministers to the area.

"We will take all the possible steps to minimize the suffering of families and victims," Bolsonaro said in a speech, which he posted on Twitter.

Bolsonaro, who assumed power 1 January, planned to tour the area by helicopter on Saturday. The far-right leader campaigned on promises to jumpstart Brazil's economy, in part by deregulating mining and other industries.

Activists Blame Lack of Regulation

Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill underscored a lack of regulation.

The latest spill “is a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies responsible for the tragedy with Samarco dam, in Mariana, also controlled by Vale,” Greenpeace said in a statement.
ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

"History repeats itself," tweeted Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and three-time presidential candidate. "It's unacceptable that government and mining companies haven't learned anything."

The rivers of mining waste raised fears of widespread contamination.

According to Vale's website, the mine waste, often called tailings, is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. However, a UN report found that the waste from the 2015 disaster "contained high levels of toxic heavy metals."

Vale is Brazil's largest mining company. Two hours after the accident, its stock fell 10 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

(With inputs from PTI, AP)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from news and hot-news

Topics:  Brazil   Illegal Mining 

Published: 
Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×