Local firefighters said the number of missing in the area could be at least 300, after a dam collapse caused a huge mud slide in a mining complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The dam's cafeteria, where workers were eating lunch, was buried by the sludge.

State governor Romeu Zema said there was little chance of finding people alive. So far nine people have been confirmed dead.

It is not clear what caused the collapse of the dam, owned by Brazil's largest mining company, Vale.

This incident comes just over three years after another dam burst in Mariana, also in Minas Gerais. Nineteen people were killed, in what is considered to be Brazil's worst environmental disaster.