The dam failure in a mine has been buried under the mud a small town of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. The avalanche, so violent that it has reached a city 70 kilometers, flooded homes and swept away cars and trucks passing through the mining town of Bento Rodrigues, belonging to the city of Mariana.
Firefighters in Minas Gerais confirmed Friday that two people died and 13 are still missing, although the day before the first information amounted to 15 fatalities and spoke of at least 40 missing. Emergency services have rescued 500 survivors.
Two retaining walls of a huge waste tank mine exploded Bento Rodrigues around four p.m. (local time) on Thursday for unknown causes. The company that owns the mine, Samarco (a joint subsidiary of Brazilian mining company Vale and Australian BHP) says that the dumping is made, for the most part sand, and does not contain chemicals that pose a risk to health.
Still, the residents have to go through a "decontamination process" washing with soap and water. Firefighters have rescued four wounded (a man, a woman and two children) and look for more survivors circling the area with three helicopters.
The prosecutor Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Pinto, head of a team of prosecutors of Minas Gerais moved to the place, said it is "premature" to draw conclusions at this time, but said that "a barrier is not broken by chance."
The company that manages the mine said that the dam passed an inspection in July this year and it was totally segura.Samanco also assured potential is making "every effort" to assist those affected and to mitigate the environmental damage. The City asks that anyone except the rescuers, approach to the scene. According to Secretary of Social Defense of the town of Mariana, Brás Azevedo, the situation is "extremely serious" and there are still risks of collapse in the area.
The deposit of waste industrial complex is known as Barragem Fundão, and is 25 kilometers from the town of Mariana (54,000 inhabitants), one of the historic cities of Minas Gerais located about 100 kilometers from Belo Horizonte, the regional capital. The Bento Rodrigues district, which has almost disappeared under the mud, had about 200 houses and 600 inhabitants, according to 2012 data.
The City Council has set up a school and a sports center to accommodate the dozens of neighbors who have been left homeless. Those affected have received numerous donations of mattresses and warm clothing, for what authorities call for financial aid, drinking water, toothbrushes and bath towels are prioritized.
