9 dead, 300 missing after Brazil dam collapse

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Workers with Brazilian mining company Vale were eating lunch when a dam that held back waste collapsed, burying the restaurant and surrounding community in reddish-brown sludge, killing at least nine people and leaving up to 300 missing.

The status of the workers and others in the city of Brumadinho was unknown late Friday, hours after what President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials were already describing as a "tragedy."

Nine bodies had been recovered by late Friday, according to a statement from the governor's office of Minas Gerais state. But the fear was that there would be many more as rescue and recovery teams dug through feet of mud.

Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said he did not know what caused the collapse. About 300 employees were working when it happened.