The mining disaster in Brazil has already killed 121 people

The number of deaths due to the breakage of a mining waste dyke from the Vale company in southeastern Brazil has increased from 115 to 121, according to the latest report published this Saturday by the authorities.

The State Fire Department of Minas Gerais also explained that 226 people are still missing and 93 bodies have already been identified, the ninth day of intensive research.

Tragedy sown in mourning Brumadinho, a town of 39,000 inhabitants 60 km from Belo Horizonte, when a dam of the Córrego do Feijao mining complex broke on January 25, generating a huge tide of mud that devastated everything that came up.

Most of dead and missing worked in the Vale mine and many of them were lunching at the company canteen, one of the first structures affected by mud alluvium.

Research by some 250 firefighters and several helicopters will continue for an indefinite periodbut the number of confirmed deaths is expected to increase slowly due to the difficulty of accessing certain areas.

Pedro Aihara, spokesperson for the fire department, explained to the press: in some places, the mud reaches 20 meters, which makes the excavation work more complicated.

Tragedy, whose environmental impact is still unknown, occurs only three years after a similar accident in the same region, in a Samarco mine (joint project of Vale and Australian BHP).

The disaster that hit the city of Mariana in 2015 resulted in fewer deaths (19)but has devastated entire ecosystems and has become the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history.