Environmental and human disaster in Brazil: the sixth day of the rescue of the dead in Brumadinho amounts to 99 days and 259 missing persons continue

The tragedy caused by the dismantling of mining companies Vale SA – the largest iron producer in the world – in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area of ​​Minas Gerais closed a new day of search for bodies buried under the mud . which devastated the area after the dam broke with toxic waste.

At the end of the sixth day of the search, the civil defense authorities of Minas Gerais announced today that they had been rescued. the bodies of 99 victims and 259 missing, after the biggest environmental and human tragedy caused by the rupture of a dam of the Vale mining company in Brumadinho.

Heavy rains caused occasional interruptions of work. Of the 99 confirmed deaths so far, 57 have already been identified. There are still 259 missing. The number of people expelled has increased from 135 to 175, according to the government of Minas Gerais.
The waste dam, which was in the Corrigo del Frijol mine in Brumadinho, broke out on Friday (25). The sea of ​​mud swept the local community and part of the administrative center and dining room of the Vale, also swept homes of residents and a tourist hostel. Among the victims, there are people living in the environment and those responsible for mining, in addition to the irreversible damage to the vegetation and the rivers affected.
Firefighters have to do a work of one millimeter in a large area of ​​mud. The bodies and debris extend for 9 km, between the broken dam and the Paraopeba River.

The biggest tragedy in Brazil

The bodies rescued from the mud reach the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) in a state of advanced decomposition, said a delegate from the Civil Police of Arlen Bahia. "Then, from there, mainly with regard to the body segments, we need to put together a puzzle," he said. Faced with the impossibility of facial recognition by means of fingerprints, dental and DNA tests are beginning to be performed to identify the victims.
According to the delegate, a working group was created to accelerate the realization and dissemination of these reviews.

He added that on Wednesday, the IML had created calendars in order to collect the necessary material for dental arcade exams and DNA. The spokesman of the Minas Gerais Fire Department, Lieutenant Pedro Aihara, commented on the difficulties of the research work in the Brazilian press. "In the first place, it is very impressive.Because of the strength of the mud, it is often not possible to find the whole body, body segments are often located", has-it- he declares. According to him, the fact that the environment is "caught in the mud" sometimes prevents to distinguish the human body from other organic or animal matter.
"Sometimes in the visual search in the flyover [de helicóptero], as people have this all monochrome tone, which also hurts, so that people have used a series of specific equipment, the bodies that were at the surface level, the work to recover them, now enters a characteristic more technical of the operation, must make several excavations.
Aihara described mud as "one of the most difficult terrains to work" because it is a "flexible, malleable" material. Unlike concrete, for example, it does not allow the use of heavy machinery in operations. "And it's also harder than water – when there is flood – because the water allows people to easily identify the bodies.
Since Saturday (26), there are no survivors. For firefighters, the possibility of finding a living person in the middle of a sea of ​​mud is very small. Searches for this Wednesday ended around 9 pm According to forecasts, work will resume at 16:00 this Thursday (31).

The operation includes 320 Brazilian firemen, including reinforcements from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, Alagoas and Maranhão. Troops of Santa Catarina and the Holy Spirit are also expected.
In addition, a team of 136 soldiers was sent by the Israeli government. According to initial forecasts, they would participate in the works on Friday (first day), but this length of stay must be re-evaluated. The Israeli troop brought equipment for cell mapping, a sonar, a radar that detects the type of equipment in place and drones connected to satellites to map the affected area. One of the artifacts is able to find people alive at 30 meters deep.

They found the architect who stayed in Nova Estancia died

The worst moment, the confirmation of the news. The body of the Sao Paulo architect was recognized in Minas Gerais by his relatives; his girlfriend, his father, his sister and his mother-in-law are still missing.
They were staying in the tourist lodge destroyed in Brumadinho after the dam broke. Luiz Taliberti, 31, convinced the family to visit the Inhotim museum.

The architect Ribeiro da Silva, 31, was recognized Wednesday morning by mother Helena Taliberti, in Belo Horizonte (MG). His fiancée, five months pregnant, his father, his mother-in-law and his sister are still missing.

Tragedy numbers
99 confirmed deaths – 57 identified
259 missing
192 saved
393 located

Source: Earth Globe (G1)

PE