Two dozen missing in vast mudflow of Brazil mine disaster

A dozen residents of villages downstream from the burst dams remain missing, along with 13 workers from the mine. Officials warned of a higher death toll even as they struggle to find bodies probably swept away by the torrent.

One death from the disaster was confirmed on November 6, and authorities reported the body of someone believed to be a second victim on November 7 evening. A spokesman for the state fire department said they expected to be able to determine on November 8 if the body is that of one of the missing people.

"The death toll will rise for sure," said Duarte Júnior, mayor of Mariana. "Some people still aren't accounted for."

The city is near the hard-hit town of Bento Rodrigues, whose residents are still providing authorities with names of people believed missing.

City officials released a partial list of missing people, including three children aged 4 to 7 and a 60-year-old woman from the village, which was swamped by mudslides within a half-hour of public warnings after the dams burst on November 5.

As rescue crews worked during the weekend, Brazilians once again raised longstanding questions about the regulatory rigor and the health and environmental risks of mining, one of the country's biggest industries and a key driver of exports.

The governor of Minas Gerais, the mineral-rich state whose name literally means "general mines," has already characterized the accident, which soaked much of the area beyond the dams with mine waste, as the state's worst-ever environmental disaster.

A state public prosecutor based in Mariana said on November 7 that he would seek 500,000 Brazilian reais ($130,000) in personal damages for each of about 200 families most affected by the dam burst.

While it is still unclear what caused the collapses, Samarco said workers were doing normal scheduled work on one of the dams to increase its size when it burst and swept them away in the flood.

Walls of water cascaded downhill, engulfing the village of Bento Rodrigues and its 600 residents in a sea of mud while also flooding others far removed from the open-pit mine.

Half a dozen jeeps with water and emergency supplies rolled through Barra Longa on their way to Gesteira, one of several remote villages along the river that rescuers had not yet reached.