The Fire Department said officials were now not sure that a second body, which was found 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the site of the accident, was a victim. It said the list of missing included 13 mine workers and six residents of a nearby village that was overrun with mud and water.
Bras Azevedo, secretary of social defense in the nearby city of Mariana, told The Associated Press that authorities had to be cautious in sorting out exactly how many people were missing or dead. "There are still people in isolated areas; they could be the ones we are looking for," he said.
People in the small village of Bento Rodrigues downhill from the dams said a deafening clap was the only hint they got that a sea of viscous, clay-red mud was about to hit. The sound of the two dams bursting at the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil's central Minas Gerais state sent the approximately 600 residents running for higher ground.
"When I went outside there were already people running uphill saying the dam burst," Joaquim Dutra said. "All I did was close my house and run to the top."
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"We lost a lot of things," she said today. "At the moment we removed the last household appliance, the mud had taken over the whole house. It also destroyed our orange trees, our fig trees. It is all gone. It was so quick."
The accident sent some 62 million cubic meters of water and iron ore leftovers flooding into the village, which is some 4 miles (7 kilometers) downhill from the mine, officials said yesterday.
Since yesterday, hundreds of people have taken shelter in a gym in Mariana as donations of food, clothing and mattresses pour in. Many of the survivors have injuries to their feet, from fleeing their houses barefoot and trekking through the devastated terrain and then onto scorching asphalt.
The mayor's office in Mariana said Samarco officials assured them the mining company would pay for the damages, but did not provide details.