The toll was expected to grow “exponentially” Monday after no one was found alive Sunday, the department said. That stood in contrast to the first two days of the disaster, when helicopters whisked people out of the mud.

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Search efforts were extremely slow because of the treacherous sea of reddish-brown mud that surged when the dam breached Friday afternoon.

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The mud was up to 24 feet deep in some places.

Rescue teams Monday morning focused their searches on areas where a bus was immersed and on the cafeteria of the Vale mining company, where many workers were eating lunch when the dam ruptured.

Vale is the world’s largest producer of iron ore, the raw ingredient for making steel. The Brazilian company’s U.S. depository shares plunged 18 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

At the scene of the disaster, helicopters looking for bodies took off and landed nonstop. On the ground, dozens of rescuers with tracking dogs were searching for bodies through the mountains of mud.

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More than 100 Israelis equipped with specialized rescue technology joined the 200 Brazilian firefighters in the search.

Rescue efforts were suspended for about 10 hours Sunday because of fears that a second mine dam in Brumadinho was at risk of failing, but by afternoon, civil engineers said the second dam no longer posed a risk.

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Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable. Still, it was slow going for the search teams, residents were on edge, and some started searching on their own for relatives.

A Catholic priest for a church now being used as a command center for rescuers said many of his parishioners are believed to be buried in mud.

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“It’s going to be difficult to rebuild our hearts,” said the priest, the Rev. Rene Lopez. “This won’t take a month or a year. It’s an open wound for all of the people in Brumadinho.”

There was mounting anger directed at Vale, the area’s largest employer, after an apparent lack of a warning siren ahead of Friday’s collapse.