7 feared dead in Brazil dam collapse, 200 others confirmed missing, homes destroyed

A dam collapse at an iron ore mine in southeast Brazil has claimed no less than seven lives with 200 others reportedly declared missing while several homes were destroyed.

According to Fabio Schvartsman, the chief executive of the company that owns the mine, only one-third of the roughly 300 workers of the firm can be accounted for after the disaster.

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“The principal victims were our own workers,” Schvartsman told a news conference on Friday evening, adding that the canteen where many ate “was buried by the mud at lunchtime”.

Avimar de Melo Barcelos, the mayor of the town Brumadinho where the tragic incident occurred revealed that the seven bodies of the dead victims had been recovered by nightfall.

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