Hopes were fading yesterday of finding survivors in the rust-red deluge from the collapse of a mining dam that prompted an outcry in Brazil for stricter safety codes in the mining industry.
At least 40 people were confirmed dead and about 300 were missing after Saturday's dam rupture in central Brazil. Rescuers expected to find more bodies as they comb an area swallowed by sludge and potentially toxic runoff from the iron-ore mine.
The local governor, Romeu Zema, said the chance of finding additional survivors was slipping away. "We will likely just be rescuing bodies," he told reporters.
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The incident sparked a national outcry and was the second such disaster to strike Brazil in just over three years amid lax inspections of mining sites. It increased pressure on newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro to backtrack on a push to loosen rules for mining, logging and other industries.
The 85m dam burst suddenly, sweeping away workers, animals and residents living near the plant owned by Brazil's largest mining company, Vale SA.
"It's like watching the worst horror film," said 58-year-old Iara Murta, who fled her home with her two sisters after the dam burst. She said she saw bodies and livestock stuck in the river of mud and mining runoff.
The waste blanketed kilometres of vegetation and seeped into a river, raising concerns of contamination. Firefighters uncovered a bus carrying employees in the wreckage. All on board were dead.
The incident comes a little more than three years after another dam operated by Vale burst, unleashing a surge that killed 19 people in Brazil's worst industrial environmental disaster at that point. That catastrophe left hundreds of thousands of people without drinking water, and 300 families lost their homes. Many are still waiting for compensation.
"History is repeating itself," former Environmental Minister Marina Silva tweeted. She said it was inexcusable "that the Government and the mining companies have learned nothing".
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Vale's chief executive, Fabio Schvartsman, said the majority of victims were expected to be employees at the mine.
Family members of the missing demanded answers from the company outside a community centre established by Vale. "This company kills. You are killing us from the inside," they shouted.
The Brazilian Government fined Vale US$200 million ($292.3m) and froze US$1.3 billion in the company's accounts to pay for the damage. It also gave the company 48 hours to create a compensation plan for victims and begin removing the waste.
Inspections of mining dams fell 16 per cent in 2017 during a nationwide fiscal crisis, according to Brazil's national water agency. The agency estimates there are 723 dams across the country at risk of problems.
