An alert was issued Sunday in Brumadinho, in southeastern Brazil, facing the risk of an impending rupture of a second mine dam, after the disaster that left at least 37 dead and 300 missing Friday.
On Saturday, the last official record reported 34 bodies found in the tide of mud that had passed the dam, but firefighters announced Sunday that three more had been counted.
The search for survivors, who should have resumed in the morning after being interrupted Saturday night, were suspended after the alert given because of the risk of rupture of another dam.
"This is a real risk, which is why our teams have stopped the search and are focused solely on evacuating the people who live in the areas that could be affected," local fire chief Pedro told reporters. Aihara.
"Once the alarm was sounded, firefighters started evacuating the villages closest to the dam," he said.
At 5:30 am (2:30 am ET), the sirens sounded in this town of 39,000 inhabitants of Minas Gerais, suddenly awakening a population already traumatized by the tragedy and, for the most part, the anxiety of being no news of relatives for two days.
Emergency evacuation
"Attention, general evacuation of the area, seek to reach the highest places of the city. Emergency evacuation, "launched speakers.
"I was at home, the siren woke me up and I saw the rescuers open our door and ask us to evacuate," told 59-year-old José Maria Silva.
"We saw a lot of people running, desperate, and hearing loudspeakers say that another dam might break," said Sagner Miranda, a 29-year-old plumber. "Those who did not have a car left on foot, with backpacks, carrying everything they could. There were children, elderly people, "he added.
The mining company Vale said in a statement that it had activated the alarms after "detecting an increase in water levels in dam VI", a structure that is part of the Corrego do Feijao mine, whose dam I broke up. Friday.
The company noted that Dam VI "does not contain mine waste", but about 3 to 4 million cubic meters of water.
Throughout the day on Saturday, the funeral ballet of the helicopters was incessant, to try to spot any sign of life among the remains of buildings or vehicles.
The rescuers found a bus for employees completely engulfed, with several bodies without life inside, which could not be extracted and have not yet been officially counted.
Israeli help
President Jair Bolsonaro, who flew over the area on Saturday, announced Sunday on Twitter that an Israeli army delegation would arrive there in the day to help the local authorities, with 140 men and 16 tons of equipment.
A spokesman for the firefighters said they would bring devices equipped with sonars capable of locating deep bodies, which will be used from Monday.
The state of Minas Gerais had already been bereaved in 2015 by the break-up of another mining dam near Mariana, 120 km from Brumadinho, which left 19 dead and caused an unprecedented environmental disaster in Brazil.
Hundreds of square kilometers had been submerged by a mud tsunami, which had crossed two Brazilian states and spread 650 kilometers to the Atlantic Ocean across the Rio Doce River, one of the most important from Brazil.
For Luiz Jardim Wanderley, a mining expert at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), there may be more such disasters in the future. "It's entirely possible that this will happen again. [...] About 10% of dams do not have their stability assured, or information on their actual state is missing. There are still quite a number of roadblocks that continue to operate without the proper security conditions in Minas Gerais, "he said.
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