A collapse of a disused dam at an iron-ore mine complex in southeast Brazil killed at least seven people and left 150 missing, officials said, as they sought to evaluate the full scope of the disaster.
The tailings dam, owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, broke apart "very violently, very suddenly," sending a massive torrent of mud over the complex where 300 mine employees were working, Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.
A home lays in ruins after a dam collapsed near Brumadinho, Brazil on Friday. Source: AAP
The deluge rumbled on to the nearby town of Brumadinho, located southwest of the city of Belo Horizonte, cutting a swath through vegetation, farmland and roads, and impeding access to the area.
The death toll was expected to go higher, as rescue teams scoured through the big disaster zone overnight into Saturday.
Brazil's new government led by President Jair Bolsonaro reacted to its first big emergency since taking office early this month by launching disaster coordination between the defense, mining and environment ministries and authorities in the affected state of Minas Gerais.
Access to Brumaldinho - population 39,000 - was difficult after the mud cut across roads, hampering officials' ability to determine the scope and gravity of the disaster.
People stuck in mud
Television images showed helicopters being used to rescue people stuck in mud, and a wide swath of destruction carved through vegetation and farmland, in which damaged and destroyed houses were dotted.
Four people were taken to hospital and were in a stable condition.
A separate statement by the environment ministry said that "the initial preoccupation of the federal government is the rescue of victims, giving support to the region, and protecting water-catchment areas."
The dam contained mineral waste from Vale, the world's largest iron producer. Source: AAP
Schvartsman called the dam break "a human tragedy, because we’re talking about probably a large number of victims -- we don’t know how many but we know it will be a high number."
He said more than 100 of the mine's employees had been located alive, but the rest were missing.
Schvartsman, who had his two-year term renewed just last month by Vale's board, said the it had been an "inactive dam" that was in the process of being decommissioned that burst apart.
Its contents - tailings, or mining byproducts mixed with water - cascaded into another dam, which overflowed, he said.
The liquid, brown mass - reportedly quantified at one million tons by Ibama, Brazil's environmental protection agency - barreled on towards Brumadinho, population 39,000, but did not deal it a direct hit.
Friday's disaster recalled trauma from a 2015 dam break in a different part of the same state of Minas Gerais, in Mariana, in which 19 people died.
That accident three years ago released millions of tons of toxic iron waste along hundreds of kilometers (miles), causing what is considered the country's worst environmental disaster. Vale was joint operator of that dam, along with the Anglo-Australian group BHP.
Evacuations
An emergency team from the Ibama environmental protection agency had been dispatched to the zone impacted by Friday's dam collapse to determine the damage, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles told the G1 news website. He was to visit Brumaldinho late Friday.
Ibama estimated that the collapse had released a million tons of water and mud, according to the Estadao newspaper.
An AFP photographer said police had blocked access roads to Brumadinho.
Cattle covered by mining debris after the dam wall collapse. Source: AAP
Civil defense officials said people living in low-lying areas in the town had been evacuated.
Brumadinho's municipality issued an alert on social media warning residents to move away from the Paraopeba river that the dam had been holding back.
The town is best known to tourists for Inhotim, an outdoor contemporary art museum, which was evacuated as a precaution. The venue receives 35,000 visitors a month.
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