Brazilian authorities have resumed the search for hundreds of missing people in the wake of a massive dam collapse.
Firefighter crews on Sunday returned to mud-covered areas after a several-hour suspension over fears that a second dam was at risk of breach.
Authorities evacuated several neighborhoods in the southeastern city of Brumadinho that were within range of the B6 dam owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale. An estimated 24,000 people were told to get to higher ground, but by the afternoon, civil engineers said the second dam was no longer at risk.
Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable.
“Get out searching!” a woman yelled at firefighters near a refuge set up in the centre of Brumadinho. “They could be out there in the bush.”
Nearly 300 people are still missing, with the list of those unaccounted for being constantly updated, said Flavio Godinho, a spokesperson for the Minas Gerais civil defence agency said.
The figure could rise as authorities reconcile its list of missing residents with the tally of Vale employees who are not accounted for, he said.
The confirmed death toll rose to 37 by Sunday morning, according to the fire department.
 |
Even before the half-day suspension of rescue efforts, hope that loved ones had survived a tsunami of iron ore mine waste from Friday’s dam collapse in the area was turning to anguish and anger over the increasing likelihood that many of the hundreds of people missing had died.
Caroline Steifeld, who was evacuated, said she heard warning sirens on Sunday, but no such alert came on Friday, when the first dam collapsed.
“I only heard shouting, people saying to get out. I had to run with my family to get to higher ground, but there was no siren,” she said, adding that a cousin was still unaccounted for.
Several others made similar complaints when interviewed by The Associated Press. An email to Vale asking for comment was not immediately answered.
“I’m angry. There is no way I can stay calm,” said Sonia Fatima da Silva, as she tried to get information about her son, who had worked at Vale for 20 years. “My hope is that they be honest. I want news, even if it’s bad.”
Da Silva said she last spoke to her son before he went to work on Friday, when around midday a dam holding back mine waste collapsed, sending waves of mud for kilometers (miles) and burying much in its path.
She was one of scores of relatives in Brumadinho who desperately awaited word on their loved ones. Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais state, said by now most recovery efforts will entail pulling out bodies.
Authorities have launched an investigation into how the Brumadinho dam burst, and courts have frozen 11bn real ($2.9bn) of Vale’s assets.
Brazil’s Environment Ministry also announced a prompt fine of 250 million real ($66.2m) against the mining company.
Vale Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman apologised without taking responsibility in an television interview on Saturday.
“Apologies to society, apologies to you, apologies to the whole world for what has happened,” he said. “I don’t know who is responsible, but you can be sure we’ll do our part.”
2015 disaster
The same company was also involved in Brazil’s worst mining disaster, which took place in 2015 when a larger dam administered jointly by Vale and BHP Billiton collapsed in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais, burying homes and killing 19 people.
Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish.
An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.
“Lessons were not learned from the last dam burst in November 2015,” Al Jazeera’s Schweimler said.
“Nobody was prosecuted and nobody took responsibility.”
