Death Toll in Mine Company Dam Collapse in Southeastern Brazil Rises to 58

BRUMADINHO (Brazil) (Sputnik) - The death toll in the massive January 25 collapse of the Brumadinho dam in southeastern Brazil has climbed to 58, while 305 people remain missing after the tragedy, the emergency service of the Minas Gerais state said in a Sunday statement.

The emergency service specified that 19 new deaths had been confirmed.

Earlier, local media reported that a court in the southwestern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais had frozen 5 billion reals ($1.3 billion) in bank accounts for Brazilian mining corporation Vale, whose earthen structure failed catastrophically.

READ MORE: Confirmed Death Toll From Dam Collapse in Brazil Rises to 34 — Reports

On Friday morning, the dam, owned by Brazilian mining corporation Vale, collapsed in Minas Gerais' Brumadinho municipality, triggering heavy mud floods. Hundreds remain missing after the catastrophe.

On November 5, 2015, the Vale mining company was responsible for a similar tragedy when another dam collapsed and killed 19 people. Toxic sludge continues to this day to leak into the southern Atlantic Ocean as a result of the disaster.