Vale : Germany's TUEV SUED says two of its employees have been arrested in Brazil

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's TUEV SUED on Tuesday said two of its employees have been arrested in Brazil as authorities begin a criminal investigation in the wake of a devastating dam rupture in Brazil which has left over 300 people dead.

Prosecutors in Brazil arrested three employees of Brazilian miner Vale SA and two contractors tasked with attesting to the safety of the Corrego do Feijao dam. TUEV SUED confirmed its employees had been detained.

"We can confirm that two employees of TUEV SUED have been arrested," TUEV SUED spokesman Thomas Oberst said on Tuesday.

TUEV SUED said it performed "assessments" of the burst dam on behalf of Vale as part of a periodic safety review. The company on Tuesday said it could not comment on the case due to the ongoing nature of the investigations.

TUEV SUED is part of the TUEV family of companies, which carry out a range of industrial inspections including of pipelines and tailings dams.

On Saturday TUEV SUED told Reuters it had not found the dam to be damaged when it was inspected last September.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Michelle Martin)