Multiple Fatalities in Brazil after Mining Dams Collapse

Multiple Fatalities in Brazil after Mining Dams Collapse

As many as 200 people are missing after three dams operated by the mining giant, Vale, collapsed in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. This collapse has lead to the release of red mining waste and fears of contamination.

At least 50 people died in the disaster on Friday (Jan. 25), Avimar de Melo, mayor of  Brumadinho told a local Brazilian newspaper company, Hoje em Dia newspaper, Mayor de Melo also stated, “We don’t have any more details because it’s all happening very quickly.”

Brazilian television showed images of survivors being lifted to safety by a helicopter after the disaster at the Feijão mine near Brumadinho. Among those missing were 100 mine workers who were having lunch when it got struck by a massive wave of sludge and water. Unfortunately, the mine was not the only thing affected, videos shared on social media show houses buried in mud, and local media sources reported that an outdoor art complex located nearby had been evacuated and luckily not affected.

The dam collapse came less than four years after Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.  The failure of a tailings dam caused the collapse. The dam is operated by Samarco, which at the time of the accident was half-owned by another, separate company named Vale.

Vale’s CEO addressed the community by saying “, I don’t have words to describe my suffering, my enormous sadness, my disappointment in what has just happened. It is beyond anything you can imagine.”  

“Our major concern at this moment is to attend any victims of this tragedy,” Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, tweeted. Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasília that he would fly to Minas Gerais on Saturday morning and fly over the region “so we can once again re-evaluate the damage and take all the reasonable measures to minimize the suffering of relatives and possible victims as well as the environmental issue.”

Environmentalists said Brazil had failed to learn from the Mariana disaster, in which 375 families lost their homes, and are yet to be rehoused.