200 Missing as Vale Dam Breaks, Echoing 2015 Brazil Tragedy
- Rising water levels prompt new evacuations on Sunday
- Vale’s shares and bonds tanked after the mining accident
Residents survey damage after a Vale SA dam burst in Brumadinho on Jan. 26.
Photographer: Victor Moriyama/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A tailings dam owned by miner Vale SA broke in the state of Minas Gerais on Friday, hitting a local community near the capital and echoing a similar accident that became Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster three years ago.
Approximately 200 people are missing, a spokesperson for emergency services in Minas Gerais state told Bloomberg, adding that poor mobile phone service in the area is making it difficult to get updates. No casualties have been confirmed. Helicopter footage from local television showed several buildings leveled by a slide of mining waste, and a sea of mud blocking roads.