A dam that burst at an iron-ore mine in south-eastern Brazil on Thursday is thought to have killed at least 15 people, devastating a nearby town with mudslides and leaving officials in the remote region scrambling to assess casualties. Photograph: Oglobo 
 
 Video footage on the G1 website showed houses of a village destroyed by flood waters and clay-red mud that surged down valleys in the mountainous region. Images from Globo TV showed the area of the operation overrun with water and clay-red mud, and large vehicles tossed on their sides. Authorities said there are dead and missing but have not yet given any figures. Civil defence authorities in Mariana said they were evacuating about 600 people to higher ground from the village of Bento Rodrigues, about 7km (just over 4 miles) beneath the dam that burst, which was flooded as a result of the accident. Authorities said the dam was built to hold back water and residue from mining operations, a mixture that can often be toxic. Rescue teams were searching for survivors or bodies, and residents living in an area downhill from the dam were told to evacuate to higher ground. The Civil Defense agency of Minas Gerais state confirmed there were dead and missing from the dam burst — but said it could not yet give a number. The Samarco mining company said in a statement on its website that it was making "every effort to prioritize care to people and mitigate damage to the environment." "It is not possible at this moment to confirm a cause ... nor if there are victims," it added. A statement from the city hall of Mariana, a city of about 40,000 people 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, said the dam ruptured at 4:20 p.m. in an area roughly 20 kilometers (over 12 miles) from the city center.
– A small town in Brazil was buried in a sea of mud after a dam burst at an iron-ore mining operation Thursday, killing an unknown number of people. At least 16 people and possibly many more are believed to be missing in Minas Gerais state in the southeast of the country, where the homes in the town of Bento Rodrigues were destroyed by mud and water that had probably been rendered toxic by the mining operations, the BBC reports. Residents in the area downhill have been told to head for higher ground, reports the AP. The chief executive of mine operator BHP says most of the disaster "has been under the cloak of darkness" and "an awful lot more" will be done at daybreak, per the Guardian.