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posted by martyb on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the waste dept.

Brazil Dam Collapse: Hundreds Missing after Mining Disaster:

As many as 200 people are missing after three dams operated by the mining giant Vale collapsed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, releasing a wave of red mining waste and prompting fears of widespread contamination.

At least 50 people died in the disaster on Friday, Avimar de Melo, mayor of the nearby town of Brumadinho told the Hoje em Dia newspaper. "We don't have any more details because it's all happening very quickly," he said.

Brazilian television showed images of survivors being winched to safety by a helicopter after the disaster at the Feijão mine near Brumadinho, less than two hours from the state capital, Belo Horizonte.

Among those missing were 100 mine workers who were having lunch in an administrative area when it was hit by a torrent of sludge and water, said a fire brigade spokesman, Lieutenant Pedro Aihara.

"Our main worry now is to quickly find out where the missing people are," Aihara said on GloboNews cable television channel.

Videos shared on social media showed houses buried in the mud and local media reported that the nearby Inhotim outdoor art complex had been evacuated though not affected.

The dam collapse came less than four years after Brazil's worst environmental disaster was caused by the failure of a tailings dam at Mariana in the same state. That dam was operated by Samarco, which at the time of the disaster was half-owned by Vale.

"I don't have words to describe my suffering, my enormous sadness, my disappointment in what has just happened. It is beyond anything you can imagine," Vale's CEO, Fabio Schvartsman, said in an address on YouTube.

He said the company had made an "enormous effort" to make its tailings dams safe after the Mariana disaster. "The whole of Vale will do whatever is possible to help the people affected," he said.

Also at BBC and U.S. News & World Report.


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:32AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:32AM (#792178)

    I've come to the conclusion that no one who even brings up "free market" or "capitalism" knows the meaning of those words. To them they both mean some version of crony-corporatism/socialism.

    If we look up these companies, what do we find:

    In Brazil, Samarco/Vale is involved in the financing of dozens of political campaigns in numbers that reach R$80 million just during the 2014 general elections, and many of these same politicians are now tasked to investigate the company's responsibilities on the disaster and set the amount of fines

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarco [wikipedia.org]

    Yep, so the corporation will never be held fully responsible for their failures and will act accordingly.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:34AM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Saturday January 26 2019, @04:34AM (#792180) Journal

    Some murders get the death penalty or long prison sentences. Other's get bonuses.