Brazil dam rescue efforts resume as death toll hits 58

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Authorities had paused search for up to 300 missing for fears of second dam rupture
The Associated Press · Posted: Jan 27, 2019 8:11 AM ET | Last Updated: January 27
People observe the damage after a dam containing waste from a Vale iron ore mine broke in Brumadinho, Brazil. The sludge buried the company’s facilities and several homes. (Antonio Lacerda/EPA-EFE)

Brazilian rescue crews returned to mud-covered flats Sunday to resume the search for hundreds of people missing in the wake of a dam collapse after the operation was suspended for several hours over fears that a second dam was at risk of breach.

The Civil Defence office in Minais Gerais state raised the confirmed death toll to 58, with up to 300 people still missing following the avalanche of iron ore waste from a mine Friday.

Earlier Sunday, authorities stopped the search and evacuated several neighbourhoods in the southeastern city of Brumadinho that were within range of the second 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.

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“Get out searching!” a woman yelled at firefighters near a refugee set up in the center of Brumadinho. “They could be out there in the bush.”

Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable.

Even before the brief suspension of rescue efforts, hope that loved ones had survived a tsunami of iron ore mine waste from Friday’s dam collapse was turning to anguish and anger over the increasing likelihood that many of the missing had died.