Brazil orders mudslide mine to take emergency measures
MARIANA, Brazil: Brazilian authorities investigating last week’s fatal collapse of a mine waste reservoir have ordered operator Samarco to take emergency measures to deal with the catastrophic aftermath, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The announcement came as officials said at least six people were killed in the disaster, raising an earlier death toll of four. Twenty-one people remain missing and 631 displaced.
The company, a joint venture between Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale, has been issued a court order requiring it to collect and preserve evidence related to the dike failures that triggered the deadly mudslide, said prosecutors in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo.
The measure is aimed at ensuring victims can obtain compensation for the environmental and human damage the incident is causing in the state, prosecutors said.
The firm must also provide a helicopter for an indefinite period of time to inspect areas of the state affected by the nearly 60 million cubic meters (two billion cubic feet) of ochre sludge. Samarco will face a daily fine of 50,000 reals (about 13,000) if it fails to comply.
The mud and mining waste burst through the retaining walls at the Samarco iron ore mine Thursday and flattened most of the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues, in the state of Minas Gerais. Fears were mounting that the sludge, which has flowed into local rivers, could contaminate the water supplies of more than half a million people in Minas Gerais and neighboring Espirito Santo.
Residents in the area complained of a strong chemical smell coming from the local water. They posted photos on social media of ruined plantations and dead wildlife, including fish and turtles smothered in mud.