Germany's TÜV Süd "shirking responsibility" over 2019 Brazil dam burst, court hears

FILE PHOTO: A member of a rescue team walks next to a collapsed tailings dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale in Brumadinho, Brazil, Feb. 13, 2019. 2019. REUTERS/Washington Alves/File Photo

MUNICH (Reuters) - German industrial inspector TÜV Süd was on Tuesday accused of evading its responsibilities over its alleged role in the 2019 deadly collapse of a dam in Brazil, as Brazilian claimants kicked off the first civil lawsuit in Germany over the disaster.

The municipality of Brumadinho and the family of one victim allege the company was responsible for certifying the Brumadinho dam in southeastern Brazil four months before it burst in January 2019, unleashing a tide of waste that killed about 270 people in the country's deadliest mining disaster.