The toll from last week’s dam collapse in Brazil rose to 115 on Friday, Reuters reported. As many as 248 people are still reported missing after the dam had given way in an iron ore mine in Brumadinho on January 25.
Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore miner and the owner of the dam, updated the missing person’s list on Friday. The firm had on January 29 promised to decommission 10 similar dams and reduced its ore output by 10%. Five people, including three of the company’s officials, have been arrested, according to the BBC. Several other company executives have been taken into custody for questioning.
The dam was built using a method that is prohibited in Peru and Chile on safety grounds. The disaster is the second major incident involving the company in the past three years. The dam in the state of Minas Gerais was holding back waste.
Footage of the collapse surfaced on local media channels, The Guardian reported.
The indigenous group Pataxo-Hahahae that lives near the dam had expressed fears about the future as the collapse of the dam has polluted the Paraopeba River with mining waste. The group relies on the river for fish and water.
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