Brazil Dam Collapse Missing Son
Malvina Firmina Nunes hits herself on her chest while shouting and crying “come back Teco.” The 61-year-old house cleaner, like hundreds of other families in Brumadinho, Brazil, lost her son Peterson Nunes Ribeiro when the dam collapsed 10 days ago.
Since the disaster on 25 January 2019, when the tsunami of mud devastated the area leaving hundreds of people killed and missing, Malvina had been going to a support centre, where victims receive information about their missing loved ones. “I have not seen him again” she said. Her pain is visible as she sits crying in her home with her other son, Fernando. “Vale is an assassin,” she cries out. If only the mayor of Brumadinho would have done a better job in overseeing the dam, she says, the collapse would not have happened. The breach of the dam more than a week ago, at an iron ore mine owned and operated by the giant Brazilian company Vale SA, unleashed tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of reddish-brown mud over a wide area in Brumadinho.
It buried a Vale lunchroom, where hundreds of employees were believed to be eating, and clobbered several other company buildings and parts of the city, including an inn.Among the employees buried was Malvina’s son Peterson, who had been working for nine months in equipment distribution at the time of the collapse. At the time the interview, Malvina still did not know that the body of Teco – as she used to call her son- was among those recovered by the firefighters. She identified her son’s body on 1 February. Peterson left three children and a longtime partner. Authorities have recovered 134 bodies so far, but at least 199 people still remain missing in what is considered the worst mining disaster in Brazil’s history.
On December the official data indicates the collapse killed at least 257 people, with 13 people still missing
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Firefighters carry a body in a basket, rescued from the mud, after a dam collapse near Brumadinho, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Rescuers in helicopters searched for survivors while firefighters dug through mud in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Jan. 26, 2019 file photo, mud covers a produce market after a Vale dam collapsed near Brumadinho, Brazil. It buried a Vale lunchroom, where hundreds of employees were believed to be eating, and also clobbered several other company buildings and parts of the city, including an inn. Authorities have recovered more than 120 bodies so far, and more than 200 people remain missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
In this Jan. 28, 2019 file photo, a helicopter lifts a body recovered from the mud days after a Vale dam collapsed in Brumadinho, Brazil. Authorities have already recovered more than 120 bodies, and more than 200 people remain missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
Malvina Firmina Nunes cries as she prays for her missing 35-year-old son Peterson Nunes Ribeiro, as her other son Fernando cries behind her at home in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Peterson had been working in equipment distribution at the Vale mine complex when it collapsed on Jan. 25, killing over 100 people. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Firefighters are resupplied as they search for victims of a dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Firefighters on Monday carefully moved over treacherous mud, sometimes walking, sometimes crawling, in search of survivors or bodies four days after a dam collapse that buried mine buildings and surrounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A photo of Peterson Nunes Ribeiro stands amid other family photos in his mother's living room in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Peterson, who had gotten a job at the Vale mine complex nine months ago after being unemployed, was found among the dead after the mine collapsed on Jan. 25. He had three children and a longtime partner. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Fernando Nunes watches a helicopter carry a body away from the mud after a Vale dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, while his brother Peterson, a Vale employee, remains missing. Two days after this photo was taken, his brother's body was found, recovered and identified by their mother. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Firefighters pull a body from the mud days after a dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Firefighters on Monday carefully moved over treacherous mud, sometimes walking, sometimes crawling, in search of survivors or bodies four days after a dam collapse that buried mine buildings and surrounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A van is seen in half buried in the mud after a dam collapse near Brumadinho, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Rescuers in helicopters on Saturday searched for survivors while firefighters dug through mud in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Firefighters rescue a body from the mud, after a dam collapse near Brumadinho, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Rescuers in helicopters searched for survivors while firefighters dug through mud in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A helicopter carrying a body pulled from the mud days after a dam collapse flies near a cemetery with two open graves in Brumadinho, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Firefighters on Monday carefully moved over treacherous mud, sometimes walking, sometimes crawling, in search of survivors or bodies four days after a dam collapse that buried mine buildings and surrounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Emerson dos Santos stands on the debris of her mother's house in Brumadinho, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Rescuers in helicopters on Saturday searched for survivors while firefighters dug through mud in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing. Dos Santos' mother was not in the house and survived the tragedy. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Malvina Firmina Nunes prays on her knees at home in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, while one of her four adult children remains missing following a Vale dam collapsed. "Take me in his place, Lord, take me!" said Nunes. "I have already lived too much. I don't want live anymore." (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Jan. 28, 2019 file photo, firefighters watch the body of a person they pulled from the mud, as it is lifted up and taken away by a helicopter days after a dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil. A company-commissioned study released Thursday, Dec. 12, found that none of the structure's monitoring systems gave warning of the collapse that killed at least 257 people, though other experts have said the disaster could have been prevented. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
Fernando Nunes walks on the mud where he has been searching for the body of his brother Peterson, returning this day to see if rescuers had found him, in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Two days after this photo was taken, his brother's body was found, recovered and identified by their mother. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A helicopter lands on a site to rescue a body that was found in the mud, after a dam collapse near Brumadinho, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Rescuers in helicopters searched for survivors while firefighters dug through mud in a huge area in southeastern Brazil buried by the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste, with at least nine people dead and up to 300 missing. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Fernando Nunes wipes tears from his face at the doorway of his home, where the wall carries the Portuguese message: "Vale assassin" in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. "I will find my brother," said Fernando, calling the Vale mining company "murderers." His brother had been working in equipment distribution at the mine complex when it collapsed on Jan. 25. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Fish swim past mud that was released by the collapse of a mining company's dam, in a tributary that leads to Paraopeba River near a community of the Pataxo Ha-ha-hae indigenous people, in Brumadinho, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. Mining giant Vale representatives insisted that the slow-moving mud spreading down the Paraopeba River following the Jan. 25 collapse is composed mostly of silica, or sand, and is non-toxic, but environmental groups contend the iron ore mine waste contains high levels of iron oxide that could cause irreversible damage. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A family embraces during a vigil for the victims of the collapsed mining company dam in Brumadinho, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. Authorities arrested five people Tuesday in connection with the collapse of the dam, while the death toll rose to at least 84 and the carcasses of fish floated along the banks of a river downstream that an indigenous community depends on for food and water. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this Jan. 27, 2019 file photo, members of the rescue operation fly over the site where a Vale dam collapsed two days prior in Brumadinho, Brazil. The deluge buried a Vale lunchroom, where hundreds of employees were believed to be eating, and also clobbered several other company buildings and parts of the city. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
Malvina Firmina Nunes, whose adult son is missing after a Vale dam collapse, sleeps after taking sedatives at home in Brumadinho, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. The 61-year-old house cleaner with four adult children was still trying to locate one of her four adult children who had been working in equipment distribution at the mine when it collapsed. Two days after this photo was taken, she identified her son's body. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)