![Associated Press](https://pipeline-online-v1688357189.websitepro-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/654px-Associated_Press_logo_2012.svg_-74x74.png)
Associate Press copy is provided via The Canadian Press
![](https://pipeline-online-v1688357189.websitepro-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/baseimage-2023-12-10T200450.180-1024x768.jpg)
A view of sunken ground at the Mutange neighborhood in Maceio, Alagoas state, Brazil, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. A mine belonging to Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem collapsed Sunday. The area had previously been evacuated and there were was no risk to any people, the authority said in its statement. (AP Photo/Itawi Albuquerque)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A mine belonging to Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem ruptured Sunday in the northeastern coastal city of Maceio, the city’s civil defense authority said.
Video the authority distributed shows a sudden murky bubbling of the water in the Mundau lagoon in the city’s Mutange neighborhood, reflecting the mine’s rupture.
The area had previously been evacuated and there were was no risk to any people, it said in a statement. A press officer said officials were still assessing the rupture and would soon provide further information.
The development came as no surprise to residents and local authorities. Braskem’s 40 years of rock salt mining in Maceio has prompted the displacement of tens of thousands of people, hollowing out communities, and on Nov. 28 the company alerted authorities of the imminent risk the mine would collapse. Land around the mine has been steadily sinking ever since, falling a total of 2.35 meters (7.7 feet) as of Sunday morning.
On Nov. 30, Alagoas state Gov. Paulo Dantas warned of the possible “formation of large craters” following the mine’s collapse and said federal teams would arrive that night as back up.
Local residents were told not to travel near the area and waited anxiously, imagining what damage a collapse would bring to their homes and the rest of the city.
In the first few days, Braskem sent regular updates, including possible times at which the mine could collapse. The messages scared local residents, including Carlos Eduardo da Silva Lopes, a student at the Alagaos Federal University.
“It caused the population to be in terror, unable to sleep, worried,” Lopes told The Associated Press by phone on Dec. 1.
Between 1979 and 2019, when Braskem announced the shutdown of its rock salt operations in Maceio, the company operated a total of 35 mines
Troubles in Maceio began a year earlier, when large cracks first appeared on the surface. Some stretched several hundred meters. The first order to evacuate some areas — including parts of the Mutange neighborhood — came in 2019.
Since then , five neighborhoods have turned into ghost towns, as residents accepted Braskem’s payouts to relocate. According to the Brazilian Senate’s website, some 200,000 people in Maceio were affected by the company’s mining activities.
In July, the company reached a $356 million settlement with the coastal city.
Aside from mine 18, which ruptured Sunday, Braskem says it is in the process of filling eight other cavities with sand.
Rock salt mining is a process of extracting salt from deep underground deposits. Once the salt has been extracted, the cavities left behind can collapse, causing the soil above to settle. Structures built on top of such areas can topple.
Braskem is one of the biggest petrochemical companies in the Americas, owned primarily by Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras and construction giant Novonor, formerly known as Odebrecht.
- 0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001