Brazil dam burst: 40 killed and 300 missing as mud engulfs town

At least 40 people have died and as many as 300 are missing after a dam burst at an iron ore mine in Brazil.

The disaster happened near the city of Belo Horizonte in the Minas Gerais state, unleashing a torrent of mud towards the town of Brumadinho in the southeast of the country on Friday evening.

The level of devastation quickly led President Jair Bolsonaro to describe it as a “tragedy”.

Fire officials released the latest number of confirmed fatalities on Saturday night after a full day of searching by rescuers digging through several feet of sludge.

But there are fears that the number of dead will rise, as it is more than 24 hours since the disaster happened and finding more survivors was looking increasingly unlikely.

The missing include 200 workers from the mine owned by Vale, who were eating lunch at the time when the dam gave way

Vale boss Fabio Schvartsman said of the 300 employees working at the time, about 100 had been accounted for

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Skynews