TEN years after a wave of toxic sludge killed 19 people, a mining giant has now been found liable for the massive dam collapse disaster.
The new ruling, handed down by London’s High Court today, found BHP liable for the 2015 deadly collapse of Fundao dam in Mariana, south-eastern Brazil.
The event of November 5, 2015 is still Brazil‘s worst environmental disaster.
A 40million ton arsenic laced horror wave was unleashed after the dam split wide open.
The toxic mud tsunami washed away most of the landscape for 370 miles, taking no mercy on animals, buildings, trees and people along the Doce River, surrounding forests and out to sea.
Nineteen people died and thousands of people left homeless as their towns were wiped from the map by the poisonous waste.
International law firm Pogust Goodhead brought the case to the British Courts on behalf of hundreds of thousands devastated Brazilians, dozens of local governments and around 2,000 businesses.
At the time of collapse, BHP was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Judge Finola O’Farrell ruled the “direct and immediate cause” of the collapse was the continuing rise of the height of the dam.
Fundao dam was owned and operated by BHP and Vale’s Samarco in a joint venture.
BHP said it would appeal against the ruling and continue to fight the lawsuit.
A second trial to determine the damages BHP is liable to pay is due to begin in October 2026.
A separate claim against Vale was filed in Dutch courts in 2024 on behalf of nearly 1,000 businesses and more than 77,000 individuals hit by the dam break.
In a statement, BHP’s President Minerals Americas Brandon Craig said 240,000 claimants in the London lawsuit had already been paid compensation in Brazil.
“We believe this will significantly reduce the size and value of claims in the UK group action,” he said.
Last year, devastated mum Pamela Isabel spoke to The Sun about joining the law suit.
Her baby, Emanuelle, tragically died when the wave obliterated the countryside.
She was tragically ripped from her dad’s arms at the moment of impact and eventually found many kilometres from their home.
Her mum Pamela told The Sun: “The ground started to shake, and the day started to get a little dark. Then the mud came.
“You can lose your furniture, you can lose your house, they are replaceable, but the person is irreplaceable.
“I can have 10 more girls. But Emanuelle was irreplaceable.”
More than 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of toxic sludge laced with heavy metals, arsenic, mercury, nickel and aluminium buried entire villages.
It travelled 700km into the Atlantic Ocean, destroying wildlife in its wake and police had to drag almost 30,000 dead fish from the water.
The contamination in the area was so vast and entrenched that it spread more than 400 miles. Even today water in the area is unsafe for humans.
Pamela, her husband Wesley and her two kids Emanuelle, 5, and Nicolas, 2, lived in Bento Rodriguez.
The small village was the first to be hit and was practically flattened by the tsunami of mud, killing five people and making their homes uninhabitable.
The mum, then 22, had left home that morning to go to school where she was studying to finish her qualifications.
Before she left, Pamela went to give her husband and kids a kiss.
“I remember clearly that Emanuelle was seated at the couch.
“I gave her a kiss, a quick kiss, but then Emanuelle said, ‘Hey, I wanna kiss right. You almost didn’t kiss me… I want another kiss.’
“It’s really sad because if I knew that it was the last day I was going to kiss my daughter I would have kissed her even more.”
