Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro attends a press conference on the collapse of a dam, at Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on Jan. 25, 2019. At least seven people were killed, nine injured and at least 150 others are missing after a tailings dam collapsed Friday afternoon in southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the state government said Friday evening. (Xinhua/Ernesto Rodrigues/AGENCIA ESTADO)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed, nine injured and at least 150 others went missing after a tailings dam owned by mining giant Vale collapsed Friday afternoon in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the state government said Friday evening.
The identities of the victims were not disclosed. Some 100 people who were isolated were rescued, local authorities said.
According to Vale, out of its 427 workers at the site, about 150 workers are still unaccounted for.
However, the total number of the missing could be higher, as local residents may be affected by the incident, too.
The dam designed to hold back mining waste collapsed Friday afternoon in Brumadinho Municipality and caused a mudslide, which destroyed Vale's offices and a residential area.
Some 100 firefighters and civil rescuers are working at the site. Another 200 are expected to reach the Brumadinho region in the early hours of Saturday.
At a press conference on Friday evening, Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said that the number of victims from the dam collapse was "terrible." He said he was "shaken" by the incident and committed to taking all necessary measures to find out what happened.
According to him, the dam was inactive and all reports attested that it was safe.
"It is important that we state that this is an inactive dam. It was not operational for over three years and was in the process of being decommissioned," he said.
A second dam overflowed but did not burst, Vale said.
A couple of hours after the collapse, the mud wave reached the nearby areas of Paraopeba River, which runs through the town center of Brumadinho.
The town center of Brumadinho has been evacuated by local authorities, since the river often overflows when it rains heavily.
State authorities decided to suspend the collection of water from the Paraopeba River as a precaution, though Vale said there is a minimum chance of contamination.
Brazil's National Water Agency (ANA) said earlier in a statement that the muddy waste going down the Paraopeba River is expected to reach the dam of the Retiro Baixo hydroelectric power plant, located 220 km from Brumadinho, in two days.
The Brazilian government has announced the formation of a crisis committee to deal with the environmental disaster caused by the dam collapse.
Minas Gerais state Governor Romeu Zema and Environment Minister Ricardo Salles are already at the site. President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to head to Brumadinho Saturday morning.
Bolsonaro said earlier in the day that he will examine the situation to decide on the actions the government will take to minimize the impact of the disaster and provide assistance to those affected.
He also said in an interview with local media that "something was being done in a wrong manner through the years."
Bolsonaro said that a similar accident in Mariana, which is also in Minas Gerais state, should have served as a warning.
In November 2015, a tailings dam collapsed in Mariana, killing 19 people and causing substantial environmental and economic damage. It was considered the worst environmental disaster in the Brazilian history.
Schvartsman, who took over as Vale's CEO nearly two years ago, said that there would be no other incident like that in Mariana and that the environmental impact from the Brumadinho case will likely be smaller, as the amount of mud leaked this time was significantly lower.
He admitted, though, that the human losses will be much higher, as the region affected this time is more populated.
