BRAZILIAN mining giant Vale has agreed to pay 37.7 billion reais (£5bn) to the state of Minas Gerais in compensation for the collapse of a dam that devastated the city of Brumadinho, killed over 270 people and poisoned the local area.

The rupture of the dam at Vale’s iron ore mining complex unleashed a torrent of mining waste, burying the equivalent of 300 football pitches.

Minas Gerais officials said on Thursday that 11 people who disappeared that day have still not been found.

The settlement is one of the largest in Brazilian history. The money will be split between funds for Brumadinho to rebuild, as well as compensation for victims’ families, and money for the wider state to fund projects including new roads and an underground railway.

Movement of People Affected by Dams spokesman Joceli Andrioli said the agreement had been made “behind closed doors” and funds were not being directed to those who had suffered most.

It has yet to be decided whether charges will be brought against  officials at German auditing firm TUV SUD, which is accused of declaring the dam safe despite knowing it was not.