Mothers demand justice as London case over Brazil dam collapse concludes

Gelvana Silva, Monia Dos Santos and Pamela Fernandes outside the Rolls Building, London on the final day of the lawsuit against BHP on 13 March. Photograph: Marissa Davison/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 as submissions in their London lawsuit came to an end on Thursday.

Nineteen people were killed when the Mariana dam in south-eastern Brazil collapsed and unleashed a wave of toxic sludge, leaving thousands homeless, flooding forests and polluting the Doce River.