The task of recovering the bodies requires men digging down, often by hand, into mud up to 15 meters (50 feet deep), pulling out corpses that are bagged then airlifted away by helicopter (Mauro PIMENTEL)

Brumadinho (Brazil) (AFP) – Brazilian authorities Tuesday stepped up their probe into mining giant Vale in a dam disaster late last week that killed at least 65 people and left 288 others missing and presumed dead.

Five engineers involved in the operating licenses and the last inspection of the dam were arrested on orders of prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais, where the tragedy occurred last Friday at one of Vale’s mines.

Meanwhile, shares in the company — the world’s biggest iron ore miner — ticked up around two percent in Sao Paulo Tuesday, still far from recovering from a 24-percent wipeout suffered on Monday.

The dam collapse at its mine near the town of Brumadinho occurred three years after a similar disaster at another of its mines in the same region.

That 2015 dam rupture, near Mariana, killed 19 people and caused what was considered the worst environmental catastrophe Brazil had seen.

Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Vale’s score, and Moody’s said it had the company under review for a downgrade. Three US law firms were also making moves towards starting a class-action lawsuit against the miner.

Brazilian media speculated the Vale’s board and top executives might be replaced. The overwhelming majority of the dead and missing were workers at the mine.

Authorities have ordered $3 billion in Vale assets be frozen to pay for fines, compensation and employee salaries to families.

– Search for bodies –

The search for bodies was ongoing Tuesday, with a team of Israeli soldiers joining the Brazilian crews who for days have been laboriously probing the expanse of mud released by the dam.

The barrier, which was in the process of being decommissioned, held around 13 million tons of tailings, a sludgy mining byproduct.

Men are digging, often by hand, to depths of up to 15 meters (50 feet) to recover corpses encased in mud. The remains are then bagged and airlifted away by helicopter. The fetid odor of decomposing bodies rose from the brown surface.

With a dozen kilometers (eight miles) of mud to carefully scour, the operation has proceeded slowly, barely denting the long list of the missing.

Jose Ferreira da Silva, a 55-year-old laborer, was blocked by police as he attempted to enter the zone to look for his 27-year-old son Josue, who worked for a Vale contractor.

“We just want to try to do something,” he said, tearfully.

No survivors have been found since Saturday, only bodies.

Corrego do Feijao, the closest village to the mine, has been in mourning since the disaster. Most of its inhabitants work for Vale, and 20 of their number were missing.

“I’m living a horror film. These are people I grew up with. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this,” said Cleyton Candido, who was waiting on news of his missing nephew and several friends.

Like many of them, he was hired by Vale as a teen. He worked for nine years in a workshop close to the mine’s administrative area and cafeteria, which were the first to be swept away by the deluge of mud.

The toxicity of the mineral-laced sludge was not yet known. But an indigenous community downstream complained that fish it relies on for its livelihood were dying.

– Public anger –

The tragedy has turned public opinion against Vale. Late Monday, dozens of people staged a protest with mud in front of the company’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. Newspaper editorials blast it — and the government — for not learning the lessons of the 2015 Mariana disaster.

Minas Gerais prosecutors said they have launched a probe “evaluating the criminal responsibility of the Vale company.”

The five engineers arrested were part of that investigation. They were to be held for up to 30 days for questioning.

Three of the engineers work for Vale and were directly involved in the process of the facility’s operating licenses, the prosecutors said.

The other two worked for TUEV SUED, a German company that in September carried out the last safety inspection of the collapsed mine. 

TUEV SUED confirmed the arrest of its employees but said that “due to the inquiries under way, we are not currently in a position to provide more information.”

Vale said in its own statement that it was “cooperating fully with authorities” and was making efforts to give “unconditional” support to the families of the dead and missing from the disaster.

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