Rescue workers were frantically working Saturday to recover more survivors from a flooded area in Brazil, where about 300 people were missing after a mining dam burst and inundated the surrounding area in a sea of mud.

Brazilian firefighters said on Saturday that at least 34 people were killed when a dam burst at an iron ore mine owned by Vale SA , as rescuers continued to search for hundreds still missing.

The Minas Gerais state fire department also said 23 people have been hospitalised after the dam released a torrent of mud on Friday, leaving a roughly 150-metre-wide wake of destruction.

In an earlier statement, the department had said 300 people were still missing and 46 had been found alive, a figure that it did not update in its latest disclosure.