$7bn compensation for Brazil's Vale dam disaster victims

Communities hit by a dam disaster in Brazil two years ago which killed 270 people will get a $7bn payout.

The Brumadinho dam contained waste from an iron ore mine but gave way, unleashing a sea of mud which engulfed a staff canteen, offices and farms, reports the BBC. 

Senior staff at the company responsible - Brazilian mining giant Vale - are facing murder charges over the January 2019 disaster.

The move seals Vale's aim to "fully compensate" for the disaster, it said.

The state government said the amount was an initial estimate and that the company would have to pay more if necessary.

"The agreement requires Vale to fully repair all environmental damage. The above-mentioned amount... could be increased if necessary," it said in a statement.

Vale said it would pay both "socio-economic" and "socio-environmental" reparations, funding projects to repair the surrounding environment, including a massive clean-up of the Paraopeba river.

Vale said it would face additional expenses of £2.68bn related to the agreement this year.

Brazil's worst industrial accident sent millions of tons of toxic waste gushing into the surrounding area, destroying the rural village of Córrego do Feijão, in the state of Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil.

"My husband left home for work in the morning, said 'God be with you', as he always did," Sirley Gonçalves told the BBC a few days after the accident.

But he never came back.

The dam collapsed at about lunchtime without warning, but the alarm system that Vale had installed in the village to warn the residents of any risk did not go off.

Those who managed to survive had to run for their lives.

"Vale destroyed our lives," said Ms Gonçalves. "They must have known the dam would break. But they don't care about their employees, they care about their money."