A week after a mining dam collapsed in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil, leaving atleast 110 dead and 238 missing, a newly released video footage showed the moment when the powerful wave began sweeping over everything in its path, AP reported.
The mine in Brumadinho that collapsed on 25 January is owned by Brazil's Vale, the world's largest iron-ore producer, and most of the victims were reportedly employees of the company.
The video reportedly released by local TV channel Bandeirantes show the muddy slush flowed out after the dam collapse and swept over the mining company’s canteen and neighbouring buildings in Brumadinho.
The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an administrative office of the company, where employees were present. Meanwhile, the police have arrested five people in connection with the Brazil dam collapse case, the report added.
The collapse left a trail of destruction that spread over an area almost equal to more than 100 football pitches, BBC reported.
In the last three years, this is reportedly the second incident that is said to have taken place at one of the mines owned by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton, AP reported. Another dam administered by the company collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais state, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes, the report added.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Josiele Rosa Silva Tomas, president of Brumadinho resident’s association, told The Associated Press by phone. “It was horrible ... the amount of mud that took over.”
Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish, reported AP. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean, the report added.
(With inputs from AP)
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