Bento Rodrigues dam disaster [SEP] point in time
Mariana dam disaster
The Mariana dam disaster, also known as the Bento Rodrigues dam disaster and Samarco dam disaster, occurred on 5 November 2015, when an iron ore tailings dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, suffered a catastrophic failure, resulting in flooding that destroyed the village of Bento Rodrigues and killed 19 people.
The failure of the dam has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history. Around 60 million cubic meters of iron waste flowed into the Doce River, causing toxic brown mudflows to
slip.
The prosecutors investigated the dam planner and five other people, but eventually they decided to drop all charges, as the disaster couldn't have been easily predicted.
See also.
- Ok Tedi environmental disaster – a similar tailings dam rupture in Papua New Guinea in 1984, still causing environmental damage for decades thereafter
- Merriespruit tailings dam disaster in South Africa in 1994
- 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill, also in Romania
- Ajka alumina plant accident in Hungary in 2010
- Bento Rodrigues dam