BRUMADINHO, Brazil, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Grief over the hundreds of Brazilians feared killed in a mining disaster has quickly hardened into anger as victims’ families and politicians say iron ore miner Vale SA and regulators have learned nothing from the recent past.
By Monday, firefighters in the state of Minas Gerais had confirmed 60 people dead in Friday’s disaster, in which a tailings dam broke sending a torrent of sludge into the miner’s offices and the town of Brumadinho. Nearly 300 other people are unaccounted for, and officials said it was unlikely that any would be found alive.
Vale shares plummeted 17 percent in Monday trading on the Sao Paulo stock exchange, which had been closed on Friday. Brazil’s top prosecutor, Raquel Dodge, said the company should be held strongly responsible and criminally prosecuted. Executives could also be personally held responsible, she said.
Vale Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman said during a visit to Brumadinho on Sunday that facilities there were built to code and equipment had shown the dam was stable two weeks earlier.
The disaster at the Corrego do Feijao mine occurred less than four years after a dam collapsed at a nearby mine run by Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture by Vale and BHP Billiton , killing 19 and filling a major river with toxic sludge.
For the rest of this article: https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1N1ZS06T