Tragedy in Brazil: There are already 11 dead and a fine for more than 60 million US dollars

RIO DE JANEIRO.- While the Brazilian authorities continue the search and rescue efforts of the victims of the accident of

the Brumadinho mine,

Security forces and rescue workers in Minas Gerais updated the list of missing persons in 299 after the discovery of 46 survivors. Earlier, the commander of the State Fire Department of Minas Gerais said that there were still chances of finding survivors at certain sites.
they were buried under the avalanche of
mud with mineral waste.

"There are possibilities of victims alive on four points," said Colonel Edgar Estevão, fire chief, referring to a part of a building located in the administrative center of the Córrego do mine. Feijão, owned by Vale; a collective and a locomotive forming part of the complex's transport system, as well as the neighboring community of Parque das Cachoeiras.

After these statements, after noon, the security forces integrated by the fire department, the military police and the civil defense reduced the number of missing persons from 345 to 299 after the discovery of 46 people who were "found and transferred to health centers ". "

At a press conference at the Belo Horizonte airport, Colonel Estevão confirmed that 11 bodies had been found in the quake zone. He warned that the search and recovery of the bodies can be extended by several weeks as they would be buried under several meters of mud. The information provided by the fire chief contradicts the figures disclosed shortly before by the Vale company, which indicated that it still lacked 413 employees.

The president was expected
Jair Bolsonaro, who this morning
He flew over the area hit by helicopter, he also participated in the press conference, but the president preferred to return to Brasilia by plane. However, he wrote on his Twitter account: "We will do everything in our power to take care of the victims, minimize the damage, investigate the facts, deliver justice and prevent new tragedies like those of Mariana and Brumadinho, to the good of the Brazilians and the environment. "

Bolsonaro was referring to a similar accident that occurred in November 2015 in the city of Mariana, also in Minas Gerais, when another Vale mineral containment dam broke out. As a result of the collapse of this dam, 19 people died and a large area was contaminated with toxic waste, making it the worst environmental disaster in the country.

State of public calamity

For its part, the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema, decreed at noon this state of public disaster aimed at facilitating the transfer of federal resources to the state and to help victims and homeless families more quickly . Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has already announced that Vale would have to pay a 250 million reais ($ 66 million) fine for the environmental impact so far, without ruling out new sanctions. against the largest mining company in Brazil. and one of the largest in the world.

Meanwhile, a judge in Belo Horizonte has already imposed on Vale the blockade of 1,000 million reais ($ 265 million). For magistrate Renan Carreira Machado, the new accident was an "announced tragedy" that could have been avoided.

"Noting the environmental damage, aggravated by an indeterminate number of human casualties, it should be noted that Vale SA's liability is objective under paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 225 of the Constitution of the Republic", declared the judge.