One Worker’s Unlikely Escape from Death as Dam Bursts – Reuters

By Gram Slattery

BRUMADINHO, Brazil – For Marco Antonio Ribeiro da Silva, a 39-year-old maintenance worker at the iron ore mining company Vale SA, a Toyota Hilux pickup truck represented a divine intervention last Friday afternoon.

In Brumadinho, where a tailings dam collapsed, likely entombing over 300 people, local mining union leaders describe Ribeiro, a deeply religious father of two, as one of the most unlikely survivors of this tragedy.

He is among a small group of Vale employees who managed to escape from a company cafeteria that was full of people at lunchtime when the dam failed, unleashing a torrent of mining waste that devastated the facility.

In a 45-minute interview, Ribeiro, who bears scars on his legs, arm, and shoulder from the incident, quickly credits his survival to his Christian faith. Yet even those less inclined to spirituality find his account—featuring a last-minute escape in a pickup truck—extraordinary.

"When the disaster struck, I was right outside the restaurant," Ribeiro recounted. "First, I saw water. Then I saw a mountain, two-and-a-half stories high, coming down on us."

He had been sitting at a kiosk by the entrance to the dining area, welcoming colleagues as they entered, and he estimates that no one who went inside made it out.

The initial surge of water, he said, resembled the ocean. The subsequent wall of sludge roared "like a detonation that never ends."

Ribeiro ran downhill alongside his coworkers, trying to avoid the encroaching mud flow. Despite his efforts, he stumbled and fell multiple times.

After falling a second time, he feared he would not survive.

"I had already given myself up for dead. I cried out for mercy and shouted, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.’ That’s when I heard, ‘Run to the pickup!’"

A Toyota truck, filled with around a dozen colleagues, appeared just a few meters away. In that moment, it seemed as if the mud flow slowed as it barreled into several buildings.

Determined, Ribeiro was the last to reach the pickup, clinging to his coworkers as they sped up the ravine and away from danger.

"I thought if I let go, I’d break my foot. And then die."

Unfortunately, many who had been running alongside him were not as fortunate. Among them was fellow operator Wilson Jose da Silva, 53, known for a viral video showing him singing and dancing in a Vale locker room.

Unlike many residents of Minas Gerais, who have endured two disasters in less than four years linked to Vale, Ribeiro harbors no resentment towards the mining giant. He believes the company has always prioritized worker safety.

Still, he cautions against living downstream of a dam.

"There’s no such thing as a safe dam," he concluded.