Alert in Brazil for impending danger of breakage of another mining dam – 27/01/2019

Two days after the mining disaster that killed dozens of people in Brumadinho, this city in southeastern Brazil He woke up Sunday with an alarm because of the impending danger of a new break in the same area.

"Attention, general evacuation of the area. Look for the highest place in the city. Emergency evacuation. Look for the highest place in the city ", he was heard in the city's speakers 39,000 inhabitants of the state of Minas Gerais cried by the tragedy of Friday.

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In an urgent statement, the Brazilian giant Vale, responsible for the mining structure, said the alarm had been triggered at 17:30 local "when detecting an increase in water levels in the surveillance instruments of dike VI ". According to Vale's information to firefighters, "there is no mining waste" in the dyke that contains between 3 and 4 million cubic meters of water.

The structure is part of the mine Córrego do Feijao, which I broke the dike Friday now leaving 37 dead and nearly 300 missing.

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"Immediately after this alarm has been activated the fire department started the evacuation of communities They are close to the dam, "Pedro Aihara, a fire lieutenant, told the media.

Aihara said that "because of the risk of dam failure, the research work (survivors of Friday's disaster) is temporarily halted" because the "focus is now the evacuation of the area".

The search for survivors in the area was interrupted Saturday at 8 pm and they had to be resumed at 4 pm on Sunday.

The latest information about firefighters 37 dead, eight identified, 23 hospitalized and 192 rescued in the mine operated by Vale.

The scale does not update the last digit of 296 disappeared.

The tragedy occurred around 1 pm Friday in the municipality of Brumadinho, 60 km from Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais). The breaking of the dike caused huge mudslides that destroyed much of the facilities of the Córrego do Feijão mining complex, as well as other surrounding areas.

On Saturday, dozens of helicopters flew into the sky looking for traces of life in the long tide of brown mud He buried houses, vehicles and roads and swallowed the thick vegetation of the area.

Despair has gripped those who have lost or do not know where their family and friends are.

Some people have wandered with pictures of missing parents. Others have collaborated with authorities to locate underground dwellings, moving between the clutter of debris mixed with mud.

On the roof of what was left of his community home in Parque das Cachoeiras, in the rural area of ​​Brumadinho, Emerson dos Santos, 30, recalled what had happened: "Everything was shaking and I saw tall trees and people disappearing under the mud".

The death toll now exceeds that of November 2015, when the Fundao Dam broke up in the municipality of Mariana, 125 km from Brumadinho. killed 19 people and caused the worst ecological disaster in Brazil.

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This dam belonged to Samarco, a company controlled by Vale and the Anglo-Australian group BHP Billiton.

President Jair Bolsonaro flew over the area by helicopter on Saturday and has committed to Twitter "to investigate the facts, to seek justice and to prevent new tragedies like those of Mariana and Brumadinho".

The ultra-right leader, who is building a close alliance with Israel, accepted the technological badistance offered by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, "for the search for the missing".

At dawn, Bolsonaro confirmed via Twitter What 140 people and 16 tons of research material would arrive at noon in the region from that country.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his condolences "to the victims and to the Brazilian government" and offered his help "in the framework of the emergency actions".

The dam had not been used for three years and had been monitored regularly, said Fábio Schvartsman, president of Vale.

The company, whose shares collapsed to 8.08% Friday in New York, suffered the legal consequences of the loss.

Between Friday and Saturday, the justice of Minas Gerais has ordered blockades of bank accounts of one billion reais ($ 265 million) to compensate the victims, then an additional $ 5 billion ($ 1,351 million).

The federal government announced a first fine against the company for 250 million reais ($ 66.5 million), while the government of Minas Gerais imposed another fine of 99 million reais ($ 26 million).

The tragedy has provoked strong criticism from environmental organizations such as Greenpeace or SOS Atlantic Forest, political leaders and risk management experts.

"Three years after the serious environmental attacks in Mariana, whose investigations have not yet been completed, history is repeating itself as a tragedy in Brumadinho." It is unacceptable that public authority and Mining companies have learned nothing", lamented Marina Silva, former Minister of the Environment and former presidential candidate.

AFP Agency.