JERUSALEM, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said on Sunday that it had sent a rescue team to Brazil a day after a dam collapsed which killed dozens and left hundreds missing.

The 130-member delegation departed on Sunday morning on a 14-hour flight with Israel's national flagship carrier El Al to Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

The military said in a statement that the delegation included engineering experts, physicians, search and rescue teams, firefighters of the Israel Fire and Rescue Services and soldiers of the Israeli Navy's underwater mission unit.

"Locating and rescuing missing people is the main need that arises from the area of the disaster in Brazil," the statement said.

A statement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that Netanyahu offered the help during a call with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

At least 40 people were killed and hundreds remain missing after a tailings dam owned by mining giant Vale collapsed on Friday afternoon in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.