Death toll from Brazil dam collapse to grow

SAO PAULO (AP):

Up to late yesterday rescuers were continuing to search for survivors in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by mud from the collapse of dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing.

Nearly a full day since the disaster happened, finding many more survivors was looking increasingly unlikely.

“Most likely, from now on we are mostly going to be recovering bodies,” said Romeu Zema, the governor of the state of Minas Gerais.

Workers with Brazilian mining company Vale were eating lunch last Friday afternoon when the dam collapsed, unleashing a sea of reddish-brown mud that knocked over and buried several structures of the company and surrounding areas.

The status of the workers and others in the city of Brumadinho was unknown yesterday, but the level of devastation quickly led President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials to describe it as a “tragedy”.

.Nine bodies had been recovered by yesterday evening, according to a statement from the Minas Gerais governor’s office. But the fear was that there would be many more as rescue and recovery teams dug through feet of mud.

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.

After the dam collapsed in the afternoon, parts of Brumadinho were evacuated, and firefighters rescued people by helicopter and ground vehicles.

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.

“History repeats itself,” tweeted Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and three-time presidential candidate.