A judge in the United Kingdom has ruled that global mining giant BHP Group is liable in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, in a lawsuit the claimants’ lawyers previously valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48bn).

High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell said on Friday that Australia-based BHP was responsible despite not owning the dam at the time.

A dam collapse 10 years ago unleashed tonnes of toxic waste into a major river, killing 19 people and devastating villages downstream.

Anglo-Australian BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where the tailings dam ruptured on November 5, 2015. Enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools poured into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil.

Sludge from the burst dam destroyed the once-bustli

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