A dam holding back waste water from an iron ore mine in Brazil that is owned by Vale and BHP Billiton burst on Thursday, devastating a nearby town with mudslides and leaving officials in the remote region scrambling to assess casualties (Photo: AP)
A dog walks in the mud at the small town of Bento Rodrigues after a dam burst (Photo: AP)
Aerial view of a mudslide after a dam burst at the small town of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state (Photo: AP)
A truck hangs upside down after a dam burst at the small town of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Photo: AP)
Aerial view of the debris after a dam burst at the small town of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Photo: AP)
An injured dog is rescued after a dam burst at the small town of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Photo: AP)
Civil defence authorities could not confirm casualties and said numbers reported in Brazilian media were speculative. A city hall official confirmed one death and 16 injuries, adding that dozens more were missing (Photo: AP)
They said the flood had also reached another village further down the hill, called Paracatu de Baixo, and that inhabitants there were being evacuated (Photo: AP)
Rescue crews continued to search the muddy waters after nightfall (Photo: AP)
A car rested on top of a wall where the roof of a building had been ripped off (Photo: AP)
Civil defence authorities in Mariana said it was evacuating about 600 people to higher ground from the village of Bento Rodrigues, where television footage showed dozens of homes destroyed by the mudslide (Photo: AFP)
Brazil dam burst engulfs homes, residents displaced