On 25 January, in the heartland of Brazilian mining, a dam collapsed releasing 11.7 million cubic metres of toxic mud. A month on, bodies are still being found.
Few will have missed the news reports describing the devastation caused by the dam collapse on 25 January 2019. Actual footage of the collapse can be found with a brief search if you’re that way inclined, but it’s the devastation after the event that is truly shocking.
The BBC have published an excellent article that captures all the emotions:
Every day at 08:00, 78-year-old Darcy Dias da Cunha arrives at his local cemetery. It’s on the top of a hill, and as the sun continues to rise, he looks out over the small city of Brumadinho.
Overhead, the deafening sound of helicopter rotor blades fills the air. Rescue workers are being ferried out to the mud that lies like a rust-red scar through the valley. They will not cease their search for bodies until dusk. Darcy, a father of 12, has spent every day at the cemetery since the dam collapsed. Here he sits, waiting for the call that will tell him the body of his 27-year-old daughter Rosaria, a mother of two, has been found beneath the thick, toxic mud. “I’m just waiting for her to arrive,” he says. “I know the morgue will call the cemetery as soon as they identify her.”
Global News have also posted a video that shows the extent of the devastation.
