Jan. 25 (UPI) — Three dams operated by a mining company collapsed in southeast Brazil on Friday, leaving dozens dead and up to 200 people missing, local officials said.
The collapse sent a wall of water and waste sludge slamming into homes, vehicles and a group of about 100 miners taking a lunch break in Minas Gerais state. The Feijão mine is operated by Vale mining company.
Brumadinho Mayor Avimar de Melo said at least 50 people were dead in the disaster.
“We don’t have any more details because it’s all happening very quickly,” he told Hoje em Dia newspaper.
A spokesman for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the leader established an emergency Cabinet involving the ministries of mining, environment, regional development and defense.
The disaster came less than four years after a dam burst in Mariana, also in Minas Gerais state, killing 19 people. That dam was partly owned by Vale.
