Brazil police recommend homicide, environmental charges in Vale dam disaster

FILE PHOTO: Pictures of victims are seen during a ceremony to mark one year of the disaster of the tailing dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, Brazil January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Cristiane Mattos

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police have recommended multiple criminal charges against miner Vale SA and Germany's TUV SUD for their role in a 2019 dam burst that killed 270 people and caused extensive environmental damage, according to a statement on Friday.

The federal police probe, one of several parallel investigations into the incident that ravaged communities in the state of Minas Gerais, indicated that "various pollution-related crimes" were committed, as well as crimes "against land and water-based fauna and flora."