The only way to reach Bento Rodrigues, a small town in the Mariana district of Brazil's mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais, is via a bumpy dirt road.

On approach, the muddy remains of the town that was destroyed when the nearby Fundao tailings dam burst come into view. A blue car, seemingly untouched, balances in the middle of the mess of mud, broken homes and twisted metal.

What is widely considered Brazil's worst environmental disaster occurred November 5, 2015, when a tailings dam in the Mariana district burst, unleashing millions of tons of toxic mud.

The dam breach killed 17 people, left hundreds homeless and polluted the Rio Doce, the region's most important river. Innumerable fish were killed and the river ecosystem devastated before the toxic tailings spilled into the Atlantic Ocean.

Two months later, the companies responsible for the dam face billions in fines. Analysts have blamed the incident on poor practices by Samarco, the company in charge of the dam - along with insufficient regulatory enforcement in Brazil's mining sector.

It will take decades for the ecosystem of the river to recover - if it ever does. Meanwhile, the lives of people whose lives were destroyed by the disaster hang in the balance.

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DW / Sam Cowie