Rescue workers push on with 200 still missing in Brazil mining dam disaster

CEO Fabio Schvartsman said equipment had shown the dam was stable on January 10

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  Rescuers work in the search for victims after the collapse of a dam unleashed a torrent of mud on a riverside town and surrounding farmland on Friday, destroying houses, leaving 200 people missing and raising fears of a number of deaths. AFP

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  Rescue crew work dig through the sludge from a burst dam owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA Reuters

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  General view from above of a dam as rescue teams search for 200 people missing. Reuters

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  Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery and a locomotive after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale. AFP

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  The rupture of the dam of the mining company Vale left at least 7 fatalities and some 200 missing, just three years after a similar tragedy caused the greatest environmental catastrophe in the country. EPA

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  A firefighters' helicopter overflies the area as rescuers work in the search for victims after the collapse of a dam. AF P

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  General view from above of a dam owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA. Reuters

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  Residents look at the destruction caused by a dam burst in Brazil. Reuters

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  A view from above of a dam owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA that burst. Reuters

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  A house damaged by the torrent of sludge and water that poured from the dam when it burst. Reuters

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  A general view of damage caused by a burst dam containing mineral waste from Vale, the world's largest iron producer, in Brazil. EPA

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  Vale S.A. CEO Fabio Schvartsman attends a news conference in Rio de Janeiro. Reuters

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  Just three years ago, a similar tragedy caused the greatest environmental catastrophe in the country. EPA

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  Vale SA CEO Fabio Schvartsman equipment had shown the dam was stable on January 10 and it was too soon to say why it collapsed. EPA

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  A general view of the aftermath from a failed iron ore mine dam in Brazil. Nairo Almeri via Reuters

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  Residents are seen in an area next to a dam owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA that burst, in Brumadinho, Brazil January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Washington Alves TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

With some 200 people still missing, Brazilian rescue teams pushed on with their search efforts on Saturday after a dam continuing mining by-products burst at an iron pit in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Seven bodies were found in the hours after the collapse but the toll is expected to rise sharply, said Avimar de Melo Barcelos, the mayor of the hard-hit town of Brumadinho in the mining-intensive state just east of the capital of Brasilia.

Just over three years ago, Vale SA, the mine’s owner, was involved in a similar disaster nearby. The company’s chief executive, Fabio Schvartsman, said only one-third of the roughly 300 workers at the site had been accounted for. He said a torrent of sludge tore through the mine's offices, including a cafeteria during lunchtime.

President Jair Bolsonaro said he would visit Minas Gerais and fly over the disaster area over the weekend, after dispatching three ministers there on Friday.

The state is still recovering from the collapse in November 2015 of a larger dam that killed 19 people in Brazil's worst environmental disaster. That dam, owned by the Samarco Mineracao SA joint venture between Vale and BHP Group Ltd, buried a village and poured toxic waste into a major river.

Mr Schvartsman said the dam that burst on Friday at the Feijao iron mine was being decommissioned and its capacity was about a fifth of the total waste spilt at Samarco. He said equipment had shown the dam was stable on January 10 and it was too soon to say why it collapsed.

The Feijao mine is one of four in Vale's Paraoeba complex, which includes two processing plants and produced 26 million tonnes of iron ore in 2017, or about 7 per cent of Vale's total output, according to information on the company's website.

Mr Schvartsman declined to comment on how their output would be affected.

Operations at Samarco remain halted over new licensing, while the companies have worked to pay damages out of court, including an agreement that quashed a $5.31 billion (Dh 19.47 billion) civil lawsuit last year. Federal prosecutors suspended but have still not closed an even larger lawsuit.