RIO DE JANEIRO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Three months after the collapse of a tailings dam in Brazil's southeast Minas Gerais state, bodies of 233 victims were found while 37 people remain missing, authorities said on Thursday.
The bereaved paid homage to the victims early Thursday afternoon, at the exact hour of the disaster. Rescue teams are still working to retrieve the remains of the victims, with the aid of sniffing dogs and other equipment.
In Brazil's capital city Brasilia, the Federal Assembly instated on Thursday a Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPI) tasked to determine the cause the disaster. The commission will work for around 120 days to make a final report.
The CPI will call for tougher regulations over the activities of mining companies and harsher punishment for environmental crimes, said the commission's rapporteur Rogerio Correia.
The dam, located in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, was owned by mining company Vale. It burst on Jan. 25.
In November 2015, a tailings dam partly-owned by Vale ruptured in Mariana, also in Minas Gerais, destroying an entire community and killing 19 people.
