First, the shadows of clouds roll over the foreground, an ominous harbinger of what’s to come.
Then, finally, it emerges: a gargantuan morass of muddy mining waste, the product of a deadly collapse at a tailings dam owned by the company Vale SA in Brumandinho, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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The dam burst as Vale employees were eating lunch on Jan. 25, and it unleashed a mass of mud that destroyed company structures and flowed into the city, burying homes and leaving only rooftops sticking up above the surface in parts.
The burst left at least 115 people dead and as many as 300 people missing.
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READ MORE: 5 arrest warrants issued for Vale dam collapse in Brazil that left 65 dead
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials called the incident a “tragedy.”
Five people have been arrested in connection with the collapse — three were employees with Vale, BBC News reported.
The cause of the burst is still being investigated.
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BBC News also reported that an alarm system, installed in an effort to notify residents in case of any risks associated with the mine, was not sounded.
Tuesday marked the fifth day of searching for bodies or survivors.
- With files from The Associated Press
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