Toll in Brazil dam disaster rises to 121 dead, 226 missing

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Minas Gerais Firefighters keep on searching for victims at Corrego do Feijao where last January 25, a dam collapsed at an iron-ore mine belonging to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale near the town of Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, on January 31, 2019. – The toll of the deadly accident is 121 dead and 226 missing. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel / AFP)

BRUMADINHO, Brazil (AFP) — The toll from a dam collapse last week at a mine in southeast Brazil has risen to 121 dead and 226 missing, according to officials Saturday.

The emergency service for the state of Minas Gerais, where the January 25 disaster occurred near the town of Brumadinho, said the search was ongoing for bodies.

All those listed as missing are presumed dead, with no survivors being found over the past week.

A protester covered in mud performs in a demonstration in front of the Se Cathedral in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 1, 2019. – A tsunami of mineral-laced mud broke through a dam at an iron-ore mine owned by Brazil’s mining giant Vale near the town of Brumadinho on January 25, with the official toll of the disaster standing so far at 121 dead and 226 missing. (Photo by Miguel SCHINCARIOL / AFP)

Virtually all the dead and missing were workers at the iron ore mine, buried under an avalanche of sludgy mining waste when the dam collapsed above the facility’s cafeteria and main administrative area.

It was the second dam disaster in three years at a mine owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale.

Authorities have frozen over $3 billion in company assets in anticipation it will pay damages, compensation and fines.

 

© Agence France-Presse