Fears of finding survivors in Brazil dam disaster

Hopes of finding survivors among the 300 people missing after the collapse of a dam in southern Brazil on Friday have killed 40 people already found.

The worst weather conditions and the rain of the search operations, but helicopters have been roaming the area in search of survivors, often return dead bodies.

In a casual death toll, firefighters announced Saturday night that the disaster has so far killed 40 people, 23 wounded, 296 missing and 366 survivors.

Rescuers found a passenger bus dedicated to transporting the miners, who were completely flooded with many bodies that could not be recovered and were not yet counted.

The disaster occurred on Friday afternoon after a landslide caused the collapse of the dam in a crude iron mine near the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais.

Romeo's governor, Romeo Zima, said the chances of finding survivors were "small." "We will probably find only bodies," he said.

According to firefighters, about 150 of the 300 missing were at the mine site, the rest in the surrounding countryside when the dam collapsed. Twenty patients were taken to the area's hospitals.

The mining dam of the Valle mining group collapsed Friday afternoon in Bromadinho, a town of 39,000 people about 60 km southwest of Belo Horizonte.

Israeli assistance
Brazilian President Jair Paulsonaro said during a visit to the affected area by helicopter that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned him on Saturday to offer him assistance in search and rescue operations.

Paulsonaro said that before the presentation of Netanyahu, who attended his inauguration in Brasilia, "We accept this and thank you for this Israeli technology once again laid in the service of humanity."

"We will record the damage to take all necessary measures to alleviate the families of the victims and environmental problems," Polsonaro told reporters in Brasilia before leaving for the disaster area.

An AFP cameraman on board an aircraft flying over the area said that a stream of mud covered large areas of land, causing the destruction of many homes.