An aerial view of the devastation after the dam collapsed in January 2019.
Photo:
douglas magno / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
SO PAULO – Brazilian miner Vale has agreed to pay $ 7 billion in compensation to the state of Minas Gerais, where the dam collapsed two years ago, killing 270 people, polluting rivers and wiping out the surrounding landscape.
According to prosecutors, Thursday’s agreement, the largest court decision in Brazilian history, is intended to compensate the state for the socio-economic damage caused by the disaster, but it does not touch a string of pending murder and environmental charges in the does not matter.
When Vale’s dam burst in Brumadinho in January 2019, it unleashed a tsunami of mining debris in the valley at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour, wiping out the on-site canteen while so many workers were at lunch, and the nearby houses destroyed and a guest house.
“Vale is committed to repairing and compensating for the damage caused by the Brumadinho tragedy and to increasingly contributing to the improvement and development of the communities in which we operate,” said CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo. a statement said. “We know we have to do work and we stick to that goal.”
In the Brumadinho outlet dam in Brazil, 270 people died. This video shows the moment when the disaster started. Photo: AP / Globo TV (Originally published on February 1, 2019)
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