SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
(Score: 5, Informative) by esperto123 on Saturday January 26 2019, @10:01AM
Latest news are talking about 9 confirmed dead and over 300 disappeared.
This is the second damn collapse in the region in the last 4 years, the other was the worst damn incident in the WORLD, wasn't as deadly as the one from yesterday, but basically killed a very important river and completely wasted a huge area with heavy metal contaminated sludge.
This one seems less damaging in terms of environmental impact, but the loss of life are likely to reach the hundreds, most being employees of Vale, which were in the lunch hall and administration building in the path of the disaster.
Both incidents were caused by negligence and/or incompetence, both damns had being inspected recently before breaking and both were given a good bill of health by inspectors, even being said they had one of the lowest risk when compared to others nearby, which was clearly wrong.
Vale's president said that, after Mariana (the name of the region of the first incident), they've changed the way they monitor the damns, that they had better monitoring, inspecting (including foreigner inspectors), better response plans, etc. but obviously was not enough or done by incompetent people, because the area is not geologically active and, unless two meteors unseen by anyone struck the side of both damns, this should have been seen coming!!! If you have a inspection and say that a damn is in getting in bad shape fast and it breaks before you can repair it is one thing, but if you inspect and says it is tip top and it breaks 3 or 4 months later is a combination negligence, corruption, incompetence and greed.