Brazilian authorities have stepped up their investigation into a dam collapse that killed scores of people. Rescue workers have continued their search for survivors as the death toll has continued to rise.
Image: Getty Images/M. Pimentel
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Five people were arrested on Tuesday as part of a criminal investigation into a deadly dam rupture, Brazilian prosecutors said.
The arrested include three employees of the Vale SA mining company which owned and operated the dam and two engineers who worked for TÜV Süd, an internationally operating German service company. Two of the three Vale employees were senior managers at the Corrego do Feijao mine located near the collapsed dam, according to Reuters news agency.
The five will be detained for 30 days while officials investigate possible criminal liability, authorities said.
Rescue crews have been searching for survivors since the dam, located near the town of Brumadinho in southeast Brazil, burst on Friday. The collapse caused a sea of mud to bury a company cafeteria and other Vale buildings as well as submerge houses and roads in the nearby town.
The death toll rose to 84 and 276 people remained unaccounted for, rescue workers said on Tuesday. The overwhelming majority of the victims were workers at the mine.
Indigenous people affected
The toxicity of the sludge from the dam, which held back iron-ore waste, was not yet known, but an indigenous community downstream complained that fish it relies on for food were dying.
The banks of the Paraopeda River, which turned from its normal green to dark brown after the dam disaster, have been lined with trash and dead fish. The Pataxo Indians living alongside the river have been told by Brazilian environmental officials not to use the water.
"We used the river to take baths, to fish, to water our plants and now we can't do any of that," said Hayo, the village chief, who goes by one name. "We can't even water our plants because they say it damages the soil."
The World Wildlife Foundation, an environmental group, also said that a forest area "equivalent to 125 (American) football fields" had been lost, and it was still too early to know the full ecological scope of the dam collapse.
Another Vale dam
The disaster caused Vale's share prices to drop 24 percent in Sao Paulo on Monday, though the company did experience a 2 percent resurgence on Tuesday. Brazilian media has also speculated that Vale's top executives might be replaced.
On Monday, a presidential task force contemplated forcing out Vale's management, but senior officials pushed back on the idea on Tuesday. However, authorities have ordered that $3 billion (€2.62 billion) in Vale assets be frozen to pay for fines, compensation and employee salaries to families of the victims.
Luciano Siani, Vale's chief financial officer, said the company was doing all it could, including offering money to mourners, extra tax payments to local government, and major investments to make its dams safer.
Friday's dam disaster occurred roughly three years after a similar rupture of a dam that Vale co-owned with Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton. The 2015 rupture, which took place about 125 kilometers (78 miles) east of Brumadinho near a town called Mariana, killed 19 people in what was considered the worst environmental catastrophe ever in Brazil.
The end of black coal mining in Germany
After more than 150 years, the industrial mining of black coal in Germany is coming to an end with the closure of the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop. It marks the sad finish to an era of black gold in the Ruhr Valley.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
The last shift
This will be a melancholy and nostalgic Christmas for the people of Bottrop, especially for the last coal miners and their families. Three days before Christmas Eve, the Prosper-Haniel coal mine — the last black coal mine in Germany — is set to close. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was gifted the last piece of "black gold" to be brought up and see the light of day.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Seidel
Black gold
The coal was initially stored outside for days, like here with the Prosper-Haniel tower in the background. Then it was usually taken by train to the nearest port where it was loaded onto barges or ships to be taken to consumers; a large portion of it was shipped overseas. German hard coal was in demand worldwide for its quality, as long as the price was right.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Holding together proudly
The work in the coal mine was not only well paid, the miners were also held in high esteem. Their dirty, exhausting and dangerous work welded the miners together. Even now, they all call one another mate ("kumpel"). Their solidarity and camaraderie were always a reason for professional pride as can be seen here in this photo taken in Bottrop's Prosper-Haniel mine.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Heyder
Working and living
The miner operators built housing for the miners in the immediate vicinity of the pits. In the gardens, workers often kept chickens and pigs. Sometimes they'd even find room for a pigeon coop. Meanwhile, these houses have become very popular. Having a garden in the city is no small luxury.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Schulte
Mates from Anatolia
After World War II, many so-called guest workers from southern Europe and Turkey came to work in the mines alongside colleagues from Silesia and Masuria, both in today's Poland. Many of them decided to stay.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The first cracks
The 1950s and 60s were the highpoint of the Ruhr mining industry. And yet, the first cracks in the mining business model were becoming apparent. The coal, which was initially near the surface, soon had to be dug out deeper and deeper — up to 1,500 meters underground. That was very expensive and German coal gradually became less competitive on the international market.
Image: picture-alliance/KPA
Bad for the environment
For decades the Ruhr area was notorious for its bad air. If you lived near a coking plant, freshly laundered sheets would turn dirty if you hung them out on the washing line. The image here depicts a skyline of coal, smokestacks, and smoke in Oberhausen — not far from Bottrop. Today, few people in the area miss these consequences of the coal business.
Image: Getty Images/L. Schulze
Unstable ground
Even after coal mining is discontinued, it will continue to play an important role in the lives of the people of Ruhr Valley. Time and again, the earth opens up and houses, roads or railway lines are badly damaged by the notoriously unstable ground.
Image: Imago/J. Tack
The work is never done
In the last 150 years, the Ruhr area has sunk in places by up to 25 meters (82 feet). Without intervention, the groundwater would rise again, transforming the area into a huge lake. So the water has to be pumped out — continuously. This legacy is sometimes referred to as an "eternal cost" for the more-than-five million people who live in the Ruhr area.
Image: Imago/blickwinkel
What will remain?
The omnipresent mining towers have now been demolished for the most part. Huge areas of the former complexes have been made green. Many former industrial monuments — and there are plenty of them — have been transformed into amusement parks — the best example being the Zollverein in Essen, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
