An alarm warning of an imminent mining dam rupture went up early on Sunday in Brumadinho, the same Brazilian community where a dam collapsed killing 34 with hundreds more feared dead, firefighters and the mining company said.
An alarm warning of dangerously high water levels at a dam that is part of the Corrego do Feijao mining complex in southeastern Brazil went off at 5:30 am (0730 GMT), a statement by the mining company Vale said. A dam at the same mining site burst Friday, spewing millions of tons of treacherous sludge and engulfing buildings, vehicles and roads.
Firefighters said they immediately began evacuating communities near the dam.
“Attention, general area evacuation!” blared a warning through loudspeakers in Brumadinho, population 39,000.
“Find the highest point in the city,” the warning said.
Vale’s CEO Fabio Schvartsman and Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema earlier warned that the death toll from the Friday rupture could rise.
“From now, the odds are minimal (to find more people alive) and it is most likely we will recover only bodies,” Zema told reporters late Friday.
In Rio, Schvartsman spoke of a “human tragedy.”