About 600,000 people seeking compensation a decade on from disaster that killed 19 and devastated villages
About 600,000 people seeking compensation a decade on from disaster that killed 19 and devastated villages
A London judge has ruled that the global mining company BHP Group is liable in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, when a dam collapse 10 years ago unleashed tons of toxic waste into a major river, killing 19 people and devastating villages downstream.
Mrs Justice O’Farrell said at the high court that Australia-based BHP was responsible despite not owning the dam at the time.
Anglo-Australian BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where the tailings dam ruptured on 5 November 2015, sending as much as 40m cubic metres of mining waste into the Doce River in south-eastern Brazil.
