Death toll rises to 121 in Brazil dam disaster, 226 still missing
Rescue workers search for victims of a collapsed tailings dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA. (Reuters Photo)


The death toll from a dam collapse last week at a mine in southeast Brazil has risen to 121 dead and 226 missing, officials said Saturday.

Search for the missing is still ongoing, the emergency service for the state of Minas Gerais said, where the disaster occurred on January 25, near the town of Brumadinho.

All those listed as missing are presumed dead, with no survivors being found over the past week.

Virtually all the dead and missing were workers at the iron ore mine, buried under an avalanche of sludgy mining waste when the dam collapsed above the facility's cafeteria and main administrative area.

It was the second dam disaster in three years at a mine owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale.

Authorities have frozen over $3 billion in company assets in anticipation that it will pay damages, compensation and fines.