The Bento Reodrigues dam disaster happened on 5 November 2015, when a dam at a Germano iron ore mine broke. The disaster is also known as Mariana dam disaster, or Samarco dam disaster. It happened in a mine near Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The flooding devastated the downstream villages of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo, from Bento Rodrigues, killing 19 people. The damage caused by the tailings dam collapse is the largest ever recorded with pollutants spread along of watercourses.