The mine is owned by Vale, a Brazilian mining giant that was involved in a previous 2015 mine collapse in the same state that claimed 19 lives and is regarded as the countrys worst-ever environmental disaster.”Where are our relatives?” wailed Raquel Cristina, one of several people demanding information about their missing kin in the mud-hit area.”Human tragedy”Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman called the incident a “human tragedy” and was resigned to more deaths being confirmed at his companys mine. “My five-year-old nephew is asking me if his dad died. The others were listed as missing.Officials said they were working through the night, conscious of the precious hours ticking away.”His regional administration said 427 people had been working at the Vale mine at the time of the dam collapse, and 279 were recovered alive.Brazils 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.The Brazil office of Greenpeace, the environmental activist group, said Fridays dam break was “a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies. What do I tell him?” asked another, Olivia Rios.Schvartsman, who had his two-year term renewed last month by Vales board, said it was an “inactive dam” that was in the process of being decommissioned that burst apart “very violently, very suddenly.Brumadinho, Brazil: Rescuers worked overnight into Saturday searching for around 300 people missing after a dam collapse at a mine in southeast Brazil killed at least nine, but the local governor said “odds are minimal” that they would be found alive. Vale was joint operator of that dam, along with the Anglo-Australian group BHP.”.Bolsonaro and his defense minister were scheduled to fly over the zone on Saturday.Around 100 fire fighters were deployed, some using earth-moving machinery to dig down to engulfed Panel Sawing Machine Factory dwellings.By early Saturday the official death toll had risen to nine, with “nearly 300 people missing,” the local firefighters said, doubling the number of people presumed missing from the previous toll. That accident released millions of tons of toxic iron waste along hundreds of kilometers (miles).Seven bodies were recovered Friday hours after the disaster, which saw a torrent of mud break through the disused dam at the iron-ore mine close to the city of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerias, around 1:00 pm.Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais, told reporters that, while all was being done to find survivors, “from now, the odds are minimal and it is most likely we will recover only bodies.Television images showed people being pulled out of waist-high mud into rescue helicopters, dozens of which were in use by late Friday because of the cut-off land access.Bolsonaro to visitThe massive, muddy flow from the collapse barreled towards the nearby town of Brumadinho, population 39,000, but did not hit it directly.Instead, it carved its way across roads, vegetation and farmland, taking down a bridge, and damaging or destroying homes. The disaster recalled trauma from the 2015 dam break near Mariana, in Minas Gerais. Media were urged not to use drones to avoid collisions with the helicopters. His environment minister raced to the area late Friday.Would-be rescue volunteers were warned away because of the slippery, perilous piles of mud.”It said the incidents “are not accidents but environmental crimes that must be investigated, punished and repaired.”Were talking about probably a large number of victims — we dont know how many but we know it will be a high number,” he told a media conference in Rio de Janeiro.”Its contents — tailings, or mining byproducts mixed with water — cascaded into another dam, which overflowed, he said.Up to 150 of those missing worked in the companys administrative offices which were closest to the dam break, the firefighters said.Vale shares plummeted on the new accident, losing eight percent in New York trading
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