Firefighters and other rescuers worked on Monday (January 28) to uncover a bus they presume is filled with people who perished in Friday’s (January 25) disaster, in which a burst tailings dam sent a torrent of sludge into a miner’s offices and the Brazilian town of Brumadinho.

Firefighters laid down wood planks to cross a sea of sludge that is hundreds of meters wide in places, to reach the bus and search for bodies inside. Villagers discovered the bus as they tried to rescue a nearby cow stuck in the mud.

Firefighters on Monday (January 28) confirmed 60 people killed by the disaster. Nearly 300 more people are unaccounted for, and officials said it was unlikely that any would be found alive.

The disaster at the Corrego do Feijao mine in southern Brazil occurred less than four years after a dam collapsed at a nearby mine run by Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture by Vale and BHP Billiton, killing 19 and dumping toxic sludge in a major river.

While the 2015 Samarco disaster unleashed about five times more mining waste, Friday’s dam break was far deadlier as the wall of mud hit Vale’s local offices, including a crowded cafeteria, and tore through a populated area downhill. — Reuters

Tags: Brazil, dam burst, disaster

 Rescuers in Brazil rescued animals from a trail of destruction left behind by a dam collapse in Brazil, as emergency officials resumed the search for hundreds of missing people.

The dam burst at Vale’s Corrego do Feijao mine in southeastern Brazil unleashed a torrent of mud on Friday (January 25), burying the mining facilities and nearby homes in the town of Brumadinho.

Nearly 300 people are still missing, with the list of those unaccounted for being constantly updated, Godinho told reporters. Most of those lost are presumed dead, officials said.

Firefighters are going through empty homes in search of survivors, rescuing animals left behind.

Fears about another dam burst in Brumadinho on Sunday (January 27) triggered evacuation sirens in the town before dawn, but by afternoon officials said there was no risk and the evacuation was called off.

The cause of the dam burst remained unclear. Recent inspections by a German auditor TUV SUD and Vale did not indicate any problems with the dam, the companies said. — Reuters

Tags: Brazil, dam burst, disaster

 

 

Newly sworn in Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and his wife | Reuters

Brazil‘s newly inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday (January 01) that he would “restore order,” and he vowed to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement in Latin America’s largest nation.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain turned lawmaker who openly admires Brazil‘s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, promised in his first remarks as president to adhere to democratic norms, after his tirades against the media and political opponents had stirred unease.

A seven-term congressman who spent decades on the fringes of Brazilian politics, Bolsonaro was swept to power in October by voters’ outrage with traditional political parties, making him Brazil‘s first right-wing president since the dictatorship.

Voters punished mainstream parties following more than four years of graft investigations that laid bare the largest political corruption scheme ever discovered. Centrist parties were trounced, reshaping Brazil‘s political landscape and polarising Congress.

Following a knife attack during the presidential campaign that left Bolsonaro hospitalized for weeks, security was tight for his inauguration. Some 10,000 police officers and soldiers were deployed on the streets of Brasilia, the capital, as Bolsonaro and his wife rode in an open-topped Rolls-Royce to Congress.

His voters are now impatient for Bolsonaro to make good on ambitious promises to tackle graft and violent crime and revive an economy still sputtering after the collapse of a commodities boom led to Brazil‘s worst recession on record.

As thousands of supporters, many with the Brazilian flag draped around their shoulders, chanted “the captain has arrived!,” Bolsonaro launched into a fiery speech.

“We are aware of this awesome responsibility and the challenges that we will face. We know where we want to go and the potential that Brazilhas,” he said. — Reuters

Tags: Brazil, corruption, Jair Bolsonaro