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(BRUMADINHO, Brazil) – Brazilian rescue teams returned to mud-covered apartments on Sunday to resume searching for hundreds of missing persons following the collapse of a dam after the suspension of the raid. Operation for several hours, fearing that a second dam would be threatened. violation.
The Civil Defense Office in the state of Minais Gerais has brought the confirmed death toll to 58, with nearly 300 people still missing as a result of the avalanche of iron ore litter Friday in a mine.
Earlier Sunday, the authorities halted the search and evacuated several neighborhoods in the southeastern city of Brumadinho, near the second B6 dam owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale. About 24,000 people were invited to visit the heights, but in the afternoon, civil engineers said the second dam was no longer under threat.
"Go looking!" Shouted a woman firefighter near a refugee settled in central Brumadinho. "They could be out there in the bush."
The brief bulletin
Areas of mud soaked with water appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters to reach previously inaccessible areas. Late Sunday, more than 100 Israeli soldiers and other personnel arrived with the intention of participating in the rescue and recovery efforts on Monday.
Even before the brief suspension of rescue efforts, hoping that loved ones had survived a tsunami of iron-mine waste resulting from the collapse of Friday's dam was turning into anguish and anger at the growing likelihood of death. many missing.
Anger was also mounting in Vale and questions about an apparent lack of alarm system on Friday.
Caroline Steifeld, who was evacuated, said she heard sirens alert on Sunday, but no such alert was reported on the day of the dam's destruction.
"I heard only screams, people who said to go out. I had to run with my family to reach the heights, but there was no siren, "she said, adding that a cousin was still missing.
Several others made similar complaints when they were interviewed by the Associated Press. In an email, Vale told AP that the area had eight sirens, but that "the speed with which the event occurred has made alarm impossible", in the dam that collapsed.
"I'm angry, I absolutely can not stay calm," said Sonia Fatima da Silva while she was trying to get information about her son, who had been working in Vale for 20 years. "J & # I hope they are honest, I want news, even if it's bad. "
Da Silva said that she had spoken to her son for the last time before his work on Friday, when around midday a dam holding waste from the mine collapsed, sending waves of mud for several kilometers and burying a lot in his way.
She was one of dozens of people in Brumadinho who were desperately waiting for their relatives to be informed.
Romeu Zema, governor of the state of Minas Gerais, said that at present, most recovery efforts will require the removal of bodies.
The waste stream has reached the neighboring community of Vila Ferteco and a busy administrative office of Vale. He buried buildings on their roofs and a vast mud field cut off roads.
Some residents have barely escaped with their lives.
"I saw all the mud going down the hill, breaking the trees down. It was a huge noise, "said Simone Pedrosa, a tearful woman from the Parque Cachoeira neighborhood, 8 kilometers from where the dam collapsed.
Pedrosa, 45, and his parents rushed to their car and went to the highest point of the neighborhood.
"If we had taken the opposite direction, we would be dead," said Pedrosa.
"I can not get that noise out of my head," she said. "It's a trauma … I'll never forget."
In addition to the dead, 23 people were hospitalized, according to firefighters in Minas Gerais. There had been some signs of hope earlier Saturday when the authorities found 43 people alive.
For many, hope evaporated.
"I do not think he's alive," Joao Bosco said of his cousin, Jorge Luis Ferreira, who was working for Vale. "At this moment, I can only hope for a miracle."
Vanilza Sueli Oliveira described waiting for news of her nephew as "painful, infuriating".
"Time goes on," she says. "It's been 24 hours already. … I just do not want to think he's under the mud. "
Rivers of mine waste have also raised fears of widespread contamination and degradation of the environment.
According to Vale's website, waste is mainly sand-based and non-toxic. However, a US report revealed that waste from a similar disaster in 2015 "contained large amounts of toxic heavy metals."
Over the weekend, state courts and the Ministry of Justice of the state of Minas Gerais froze about $ 3 billion worth of Vale 's badets intended for the services of. state emergency and asked the company to indicate how it would help the victims.
Neither the company nor the authorities had explained why the dam had failed, but Attorney General Raquel Dodge promised to investigate it, saying that "someone is absolutely at fault". Dodge noted that there are 600 mines in the state of Minas Gerais alone that are clbadified as risk of rupture.
Another dam managed by Vale and the Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana, in the same state as Minas Gerais, killing 19 people and forcing hundreds to leave their homes. Regarded as the worst environmental disaster in the history of Brazil, 250,000 people were deprived of drinking water and killed thousands of fish. About 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded the surrounding rivers and eventually spilled into the Atlantic Ocean.
Sueli de Oliveira Costa, who had not heard from her husband since Friday, had harsh words for the mining company.
"Vale destroyed Mariana and now they have destroyed Brumadinho," she said.
The Folia di S.Paulo reported on Saturday that the dam mining complex received an accelerated expansion permit in December due to "risk reduction". Conservation groups in the area said the approval was illegal.
On Twitter, new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said his government would do everything possible to "prevent more tragedies" like Mariana and now Brumadinho.
The far-right leader campaigned on promising to revive the Brazilian economy, partly through deregulation of the mining industry and other industries.
Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill had highlighted the lack of environmental regulation in Brazil and that many had promised to fight against further deregulation.
Marina Silva, a former environment minister and presidential candidate, said such tragedies should be considered "heinous crimes" and that Congress should be held responsible for not toughening regulations and enforcing them.
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