At least 17 dead as dam bursts at Brazil mining waste site

Two people have been officially confirmed as dead after two tailings dams burst at a mine in south-eastern Brazil but the death toll looks set to rise. The company said the waste held in the dams “consists mostly of silica (sand) from the iron ore processing and presents no chemical that is harmful to health”.

The dams and mines are operated by Samarco, a joint venture between Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and Vale, Brazil’s biggest mining company.

A new initiative had been used on the two dams owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd that broke in the Bento Rodrigues district.

More than 500 people lived in Bento Rodrigues, which lies about 7km (four miles) south of the burst dams.

A woman washes herself during a break from cleaning her damaged home in Barra Longa, after a dam burst on Thursday in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, Saturday, November 7, 2015.

A deafening clap was the only hint they got that a sea of viscous, clay-red mud was about to hit.

Authorities have given contradictory information on the toll. The mud flow is eight kilometers (five miles) long and 2.5 meters deep, Globo said, citing military police.

The Rede Record Brazilian television news network’s Balanço Geral program said at least 15 people were found dead and 45 others are missing, attributing the director of a local union.

Samarco said 13 of its employees were missing in the disaster.

According to a few reports, up to 100 people are unaccounted for.

“Everything happened so quickly that I barely had time to save my kid goat, not even my property”, one survivor named Claudio said. He also insisted that Brazilian law does not require any emergency alarm and that the authorities had approved the company’s emergency response plan. On Thursday, there was no sign of a breach immediately after the tremor, he said.

Rescue worker Denir Ubaldo Monterio said neighbors banded together to escape the mudflow. In the meantime residents who came in contact with the thick mud were advised to shower and dispose of their clothing. “When the firefighter helicopter arrived, the mud was still coming down”. Numerous survivors have injuries to their feet, from fleeing their houses barefoot and trekking through the devastated terrain and then onto scorching asphalt. “There is a risk of bodies not being found”.

A statement from the city hall of Mariana, a city of about 40,000 people 185 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, said the dam ruptured at 4:20 p.m.in an area roughly over 12 miles from the city center.

Analysts at Clarksons Platou Securities said on Friday that the likelihood of a lengthy stoppage at the Germano mine, which accounts for about one-fifth of seaborne pellet market, could lift iron ore prices. “Our focus is on assuring people’s safety and protecting the environment”.