Echoes of Samarco

In 2015, a tailings dam collapsed at an iron ore mine belonging to Samarco Mineracao SA, a Vale joint venture with BHP Group, less than 100 km (60 miles) to the east. The resulting torrent of toxic mud killed 19 people, buried a small village and contaminated a major river in Brazil's worst environmental disaster on record.

Fears of another dam burst in Brumadinho on Sunday triggered evacuation sirens in the town before dawn, adding to the anxiety of residents waiting for word about lost relatives and friends.

Firefighters halted searching and evacuated thousands from their homes until the afternoon when civil defense authorities ruled out the risk of another dam burst, calling off the evacuation and reinstating search-and-rescue efforts.

Aihara initially said 24,000 people would be evacuated, but later lowered the total to 3,000. In all, 24,000 people have been affected by the disaster, he said.

Renato Maia, a 44-year-old salesman whose best friend's daughter remained missing, fled his home in panic early on Sunday and waited for hours with his wife at a police barricade on the outskirts of town.

"We're all fed up with Vale ... and this is really adding to the tension," he said. "It was a huge tragedy and now we don't know what might come next."

The Brazilian government ordered Vale to halt operations at the Corrego do Feijao mining complex. On Sunday, courts nearly doubled to 11 billion reais the amount of Vale assets frozen in anticipation of damages and fines.

Federal prosecutor Jose Adercio Sampaio told Reuters on Saturday that state and federal authorities had failed to apply more stringent regulation to the hundreds of tailings dams around the country.

Schvartsman said all of Vale's tailings dams were checked after the 2015 disaster and periodic reviews carried out.

Reuters