After a dam burst in South-East Brazil, around missing 200 people. This is the fire brigade said on Friday, after a mudslide had buried several houses. First of all, the fire service had spoken of “several dead” in the small town of Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerais. As the rescue operation was still ongoing, there was initially no exact number of victims, it said.
The dam belongs to the largest Brazilian mining company Vale. The iron ore giant confirmed the dam break and said that was most important to save the lives of employees and local residents. Some of the houses were up to the roof in mud, as seen on TV images.
The crew of a rescue helicopter tried to free two people who were stuck up to their bellies in mud. On a Video was to see how the mudslide flooded a road and up to the river Parapoeba came.
The 39,000 residents of the city of Brumadinho, located about 60 km southwest of Belo Horizonte in southeastern Brazil. The city administration issued a warning and asked the residents, from the Banks of the Parapoeba. Residents of low-lying areas were brought from their homes in safety, as representatives of the civil protection said.
Five helicopters to search for Survivors
the Minister of the environment Ricardo Salles, the website G1, an emergency team from the environment Agency, said Ibama was on the way to the disaster area. Five helicopters were dispatched to search for Survivors and to assess the extent of the destruction. In addition, a crisis staff had been formed.
The accident is reminiscent of a toxic sludge disaster in November 2015. Near the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais, the dam of a Klärbeckens was at the time, with toxic substances from the mining industry broken. The mud avalanche buried the mountain village of Bento Rodrigues. 19 people were killed.
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were also in the river Rio Doce, and later on in the 650 kilometres away in the Atlantic ocean. Thousands of animals died, hundreds of thousands of people had no clean drinking water. According to the government, it is the largest environmental disaster in the history of the South American country. (AFP)
