Petrochemical giant’s closed salt mine partially collapses in northeastern Brazil

By DIANE JEANTET and DAVID BILLER
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Civil defense authorities in Brazil say a closed rock salt mine belonging to petrochemical giant Braskem has partially collapsed in the coastal city of Maceio, the capital of northeastern Alagoas state. Video distributed by the city’s civil defense authority shows a sudden murky bubbling of the water in the Mundau Lagoon in the city’s Mutange neighborhood, reflecting the mine’s rupture. The area had previously been evacuated and there were was no risk to any people, according to the authority. It quotes Mayor João Henrique Caldas as saying that the mine is expected to stabilize following the partial collapse. Braskem’s 40 years of rock salt mining in Maceio has caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people.