Water turns brown
BRUMADINHO, Brazil — Brazilian rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 99 people buried after the rupture last week of a tailings dam at an iron ore mine. More than 250 people are still missing and relatives at the disaster site are fast losing hope.
No survivors have been found in the area of the dam burst since Saturday, indicating the death toll could rise to as many as 360 people, which would make it Brazil’s deadliest mining accident.
Some relatives of missing people are joining rescue teams in the hope of at least finding their loved ones’ bodies, buried after the dam on Friday released a river of slurry — the muddy byproduct of iron ore processing.
“We don’t have strength to even cry any more. We keep coming to try to find the body, so we can have a burial,” said Tereza Ferreira Nascimento, a resident of the nearby town of Brumadinho, who likely lost her brother Paulo Giovanni Santos.
With the help of another of her brothers, Pedro, she was digging through an area in a small field that had been swept by the wave of mining waste.
“We have been here since Friday, taking turns between brothers, brothers-in-law, searching for the body so that we can at least give him a dignified burial,” said Nascimento, holding back tears. “So far it has been in vain.”
Nascimento’s sister-in-law, Sonia Monteiro, knelt down to smell the mud. Other smells, of dead animals, had thrown them off before, but this time they believed they were on the right track.
“We were sensing a smell here, more or less, so we are digging to see if we find him,” said Nascimento, 41.
In the distance, helicopters could be heard and firefighters worked several areas, in theory to search for survivors, but more likely for bodies.
Vagner Diniz, 60, was holding on to some hope on Wednesday that some of his five missing family members were still alive. His list of missing was staggering: His two adult children, Luiz and Camila; his daughter-in-law Fernanda, who was five months pregnant; and the biological parents of Luiz, who was adopted.
“This was a massive assassination,” said Diniz, who lives in Australia with his wife and had come to his native Brazil on vacation.
Diniz believes that when the dam collapsed on Friday, the family was in the Pousada Nova Estancia, an inn that got buried. On Tuesday night, he learned that his son’s body had been recovered.
It could be several days or weeks before many bodies are found, as the mud extends several meters deep. Firefighters have to be careful in spots where it is particularly mushy so as not to become trapped themselves.
The release of the muddy waste has already turned the normally greenish water of the Paraopeba River brown about 18 kilometers downstream from the southeastern city of Brumadhinho, where the broken dam is located.
A worker who narrowly escaped the crush of the company cafeteria said he doubted anyone inside had made it out alive.
Human rights experts from the United Nations earlier on Wednesday called for an official investigation into the disaster. Baskut Tuncak, a UN expert on the disposal of hazardous substances, urged Brazil to prioritize dam safety evaluations and block new tailings dams until safety could be ensured.
A Minas Gerais state court ordered on Wednesday that no more licenses should be issued to projects using the type of dam similar to that at Brumadinho.
Vale SA, the owner of the mine, said on Tuesday it would spend 5 billion reals ($1.3 billion) decommissioning dams like the one that collapsed. The company has also promised to pay 100,000 reals as compensation to each victim’s family.
Vale will also cut 10 percent of its output by decommissioning 10 dams, Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman said. The plan triggered a 9 percent rally in Vale shares. Vale faces tough questions about its safety record.