Hopes fade of finding more survivors after Brazilian dam collapse that left 9 dead, 300 missing

Hopes were fading on Saturday that rescuers would find more survivors after at least 300 people went missing following a dam collapse at a mine in southeast Brazil, with just nine bodies recovered so far. Seven bodies were recovered on Friday hours after the disaster, after a torrent of mud broke through the dam at the iron-ore mine close to the city of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, at around 1pm. By early Saturday the official death toll had risen to nine, local firefighters said, who also doubled the number of people presumed missing to nearly 300. Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais, told reporters that while all was being done to find survivors, “from now, the odds are minimal and it is most likely we will recover only bodies”. Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro, who rushed home from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is expected to fly over the disaster zone on Saturday along with his defence minister. The mine is owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, which was involved in a 2015 mine collapse in the same state that claimed 19 lives and is regarded as the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster. The company’s shares plummeted as news broke of the new accident, losing eight per cent in New York trading. Minas Gerais officials obtained a court order blocking Vale’s bank account in the state to the tune of US$270 million, money that would used for victim relief, according to the G1 news website. Pronunciamento sobre a tragédia em Brumadinho/MG: pic.twitter.com/BzNUuss5gN — Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) January 25, 2019 The massive, muddy flow from the collapse barrelled towards the nearby town of Brumadinho, which has a population 39,000, but did not hit it directly. Instead, it carved its way across roads, vegetation and farmland, taking down a bridge, and damaging or destroying homes. Television images showed people being pulled out of waist-high mud into rescue helicopters, dozens of which were in use by late Friday because land access had been cut off. Brazil’s new government reacted to its first major emergency by launching disaster coordination between the defence, mining and environment ministries and the authorities in the affected state of Minas Gerais. Bolsonaro’s environment minister raced to the area late on Friday. “Where are our relatives?” wailed Raquel Cristina, one of several people demanding information about their missing kin in the mud-hit area. “My five-year-old nephew is asking me if his dad died. What do I tell him?” asked another, Olivia Rios. Some of the firefighters used earth-moving machinery to dig down to engulfed dwellings. Would-be rescue volunteers were warned away because of the slippery, perilous piles of mud. The media was urged not to use drones to avoid collisions with helicopters. Up to 150 of those missing worked in the company’s administrative offices which were closest to the dam break, the firefighters said. Walter Morais, a member of the Red Cross team sent to the disaster zone, said that his relief group “will begin humanitarian actions helping people who were rescued and are homeless”. Depois de 3 anos do grave crime ambiental em Mariana, com investigações ainda não concluídas e responsáveis punidos, a história se repete como tragédia em Brumadinho. É inadmissível que o poder público e empresas mineradoras não tenham aprendido nada. https://t.co/Z4XC8aeQfy — Marina Silva (@MarinaSilva) January 25, 2019 Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman called the incident a “human tragedy” and was resigned to more deaths being confirmed at his company’s mine. “We’re talking about probably a large number of victims – we don’t know how many but we know it will be a high number,” he told a media conference in Rio de Janeiro. Schvartsman, who had his two-year term renewed last month by Vale’s board, said it was an “inactive dam” that was in the process of being decommissioned that burst apart “very violently, very suddenly”. Its contents – tailings, or mining by-products mixed with water – cascaded into another dam, which overflowed, he said. The disaster recalled trauma from the 2015 dam break near Mariana, in Minas Gerais. That accident released millions of tonnes of toxic iron waste that spread hundreds of kilometres. Vale was joint operator of that dam with the Anglo-Australian group BHP. The Brazil office of Greenpeace, the environmental activist group, said Friday’s dam break was “a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies”. Such incidents “are not accidents but environmental crimes that must be investigated, punished and repaired”, it added.

Hopes fade of finding more survivors after Brazilian dam collapse that left 9 dead, 300 missing

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Parts of the city of Brumadinho were evacuated Environmental groups said the latest spill underscored a lack of regulation

Parts of the city of Brumadinho were evacuated

Environmental groups said the latest spill underscored a lack of regulation