Victims of Brazil’s worst ecological catastrophe are taking their case for settlement to a UK court on Monday
ByDANICA KIRKA Associated Press
October 21, 2024, 7: 16 AM
LONDON — Victims of Brazil’s worst ecological catastrophe were taking their case for settlement to a UK court on Monday, nearly 9 years after loads of poisonous mining waste put into a significant waterway, killing 19 individuals and ravaging regional neighborhoods.
The class action claim at the High Court in London looksfor an approximated 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from the international mining giant BHP. That would make it the biggest ecological payment ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law company representing the complainants.
BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian business that runs the iron ore mine where a tailings dam burst on Nov. 5, 2015, launching enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming swimmingpools into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was submitted in Britain duetothefactthat one of BHP’s 2 primary legal entities was based in London at the time.
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