By Catarina Demony and Marissa Davison
LONDON (Reuters) – With tears in their eyes, mothers of children who died in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster – the 2015 Mariana dam collapse – demanded justice for their loved ones on Thursday as submissions in their London lawsuit came to an end.
Nineteen people were killed when the Mariana dam in southeastern Brazil collapsed and unleashed a wave of toxic sludge, leaving thousands homeless, flooding forests and polluting the Doce River.
The dam was owned by Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and Anglo-Australian BHP, the world’s biggest miner by market value.
“It was the day that destroyed my life… the day that took away my son,” Gelvana Silva, 37, said outside London’s High Court. She lost her seven-year-old son Thiago in the flood.
More than 600,000 Brazilians, 46 local governments and around 2,000 businesses are suing BHP over the disaster in a lawsuit worth up to 36 billion pounds ($46.63 billion).
The lawsuit, one of the largest in English legal history, began in October and ends on Thursday with closing submissions. Tom Goodhead, CEO of Pogust Goodhead, representing the claimants, expects a decision this summer.
Pamela Fernandes, 31, lost her five-year-old daughter, Manu. “The memories of Manu are always with me… it’s very difficult.”
Fernandes, who like Silva wore a T-shirt bearing her late child’s picture, said: “I want justice so that I can be at peace, so that my daughter can be at peace.”
‘ACCOUNTABILITY’
BHP says the London lawsuit duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programmes in Brazil and should be thrown out. It also says nearly $8 billion has been paid to those affected through the Renova Foundation, with around $1.7 billion going to claimants involved in the English case.
BHP argues it did not own or operate the dam, which held mining waste known as tailings. It said a Brazilian subsidiary of its Australian holding company was a 50% shareholder in Samarco, which operated independently.
The miner also said it had no knowledge the dam’s stability was compromised before it collapsed.
The Brazilian government signed in October a compensation deal with BHP, Vale and Samarco but Goodhead has said victims of the disaster were not involved.
Goodhead said on Thursday the trial was about accountability.
“If the company is convicted, it will be the biggest victory for us… it would have been worth waiting ten years,” Silva added.
($1 = 0.7721 pounds)
(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Marissa Davison; Editing by Alexandra Hudosn)
