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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Daniel Boffey Chief reporter

BHP ‘doggedly trying to avoid’ responsibility for Brazil dam disaster, English high court hears

BHP Brazil Samarco Vale Lawsuit London Mining
Brazilian Indigenous tribal chiefs and other activists demonstrate against the Mariana dam disaster outside the high court in London as the trial opens.
Brazilian Indigenous tribal chiefs and other activists demonstrate against the Mariana dam disaster outside the high court in London as the trial opens. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The Anglo-Australian mining company BHP has been accused of “cynically and doggedly trying to avoid” responsibility for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster at the opening of the largest group lawsuit in English legal history.

The claim for up to £36bn in compensation was opened by lawyers acting for more than 620,000 individuals at the high court in London. It comes nine years after the breach of a dam holding toxic waste from an iron ore mine killed 19 people near the town of Mariana in south-eastern Brazil.

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