Victims of the Mariana dam collapse speak out as the London trial begins

“The last words I heard her say were, ‘Did you know you are the best mother in the world?'”

Gelvana Rodrigues’ son, Thiago, was seven years old when toxic mud filled their home and killed him.

He was one of 19 people who died after the collapse of the Mariana Dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil on November 5, 2015.

It is remembered as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil.

The dam was owned by Samarco, a joint venture between mining giants Vale and BHP.

It was used to store waste from iron ore mines. When it exploded, it released tens of millions of cubic meters of toxic debris and lava.

The mud washed over communities, destroyed hundreds of homes and poisoned the river.

Gelvana was at work when the tragedy happened, her son was staying with his grandmother at home.

After hearing the news, he ran back to find “everything destroyed”.

“I spent three days without eating or sleeping, I wanted to find my son,” he said.

Seven days later, he heard that rescuers had found Thiago’s body.

“That day my life ended, because I was living for him.”

Gelvana is one of 620,000 people taking BHP to court in the UK over the disaster.

A civil trial starting in London on 21 October will determine whether the Anglo-Australian company was guilty.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs successfully argued that the case should be held in London because BHP’s headquarters were “in the UK when the dam collapsed”.

If BHP loses the case, a second phase will be held to determine who is entitled to additional damages payments, and how much.

A separate case against Samarco’s second parent company, Brazilian mining company Vale, is ongoing in the Netherlands, which employs about 70,000 people.

Both companies have agreed that if there is a claim for compensation, they will split the costs.

Marquis Muniz, known as Marquinhos, moved to one of the beaten cities – Bento Rodrigues – in 1969, at the age of six, in the same house where his father was born. Later, when he grew up, he built his own house in another place that his father had bought there.

Marquinhos worked for Samarco for almost 30 years before he retired. He had livestock, pigs, and orange trees that he looked forward to taking care of in his retirement.

“I never thought this was possible,” he said. “If I had known that this would happen in the future, the place and community I grew up in would be destroyed, I would have stopped working there.”

Bento Rodrigues is now like a ghost town. The houses are in ruins and still full of mud. Marquinhos’ house was washed into a nearby lake, and only its end is visible now.

BHP and Vale have established an organization called the Renova Foundation which is tasked with compensating the victims.

He offered them monetary compensation, or a house in a new city built by the foundation that will replace this city called Novo Bento.

The Renova Foundation says it has disbursed more than $7.7bn (£5.9bn) in reparations and compensation so far, to more than 445,000 people, with around 50% of that paid directly to the people affected.

But companies say this does not mean they accept the burden.

The community was given a say in how the city was built, and the design of their new homes.

Marquinhos has been given a house there but fears, in this modern city, his way of life and community will be lost.

The new city is under construction. It’s up in the hills, as opposed to down by the lake, and has a modern, urban feel to it.

Darliza das Graças moved there last year. He has a small bar in the “old” Bento Rodrigues and has a restaurant now.

“Life here is good, good. But in the beginning it was very difficult, there were few residents,” he said.

“They’re coming now, it’s much better.”

More than 100 people have been resettled there so far, but – nine years on – there are still others who haven’t because their houses are not suitable, or because they chose not to live.

Although Darliza is happy here, she says she preferred her old life because “the community there is united”. Not everyone from his old community chose to live here.

BHP and Vale categorically deny the debt claims and say the UK legal action is “unnecessary as it repeats issues already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and other legal actions in Brazil”.

All the companies involved say they are “still committed” to repairing the damage caused. BHP and Vale have made a new offer to the Brazilian government, expected to be signed on Friday, to pay more than 170bn reais ($45bn) in compensation.

Samarco added that the Renova Foundation has compensated the families of 18 of the 19 victims who died and continues to communicate with the families and lawyers in the unresolved cases.

Fernanda Lavarello, head of business at BHP Brasil, said: “What happened in 2015 was a disaster. We apologize for what happened. Since then, BHP has never abandoned the country and is doing everything it can to improve the environment and the health of those families.”

“Some projects are taking longer than expected, because they are complicated, but for the families who chose to build houses here, their houses are ready, and they have already moved in.”

The UK case against BHP began in 2018 when citizens and other local companies and authorities decided to seek what their lawyers described as “fair and full compensation” for the damage caused.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs – Pogust Goodhead – said that BHP was guilty because Samarco “was the legal entity for their production of Iron Ore and BHP controlled the company and its decisions. This means that BHP knew or should have known when important decisions were made that led to in the collapse of the dam.”

If they win, they expect compensation to reach $44bn (£34bn) in what has been described as one of the world’s biggest environmental lawsuits.

For others, like Marquinhos, this is about trying to get more compensation than what was previously offered, so that he can resume his life in the place of his choice.

For some, no amount of money can compensate for the losses.

“Nothing can bring back life,” said Gelvana about her son Thiago. “No amount of money in the world can buy life. I just want justice and no mother will live here in the same place as me.”