BRAZIL: At least 3 dead, 16 missing after buildings collapse in Rio

Record ID: 216321

  • Title: BRAZIL: At least 3 dead, 16 missing after buildings collapse in Rio
  • Date: 27th January 2012
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JANUARY 26, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE READING NEWSPAPERS IN NEWSSTAND NEAR COLLAPSE SITE
  • Embargoed: 11th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil, Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA4MFMPHBFMCXA1XT5UYNOAXLXU
  • Story Text: Rescue workers continued to search for survivors and bodies on Thursday (January 26) morning after three buildings collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, leaving three dead, six injured and at least 16 people missing.
    Tractors worked overnight to dig through the pile of rubble which covered a street in the Brazilian city's historic centre on Wednesday night. Three bodies had been pulled out by Thursday morning, according to the civil defence.
    This was the latest incident highlighting the failure of authorities to improve the city's infrastructure amid preparations to host soccer's World Cup and the Olympics.
    Some witnesses reported a loud explosion prior to the collapse, but it is still unclear whether the noise was an actual blast or if it was caused by a crack in the building's structure.
    At first officials suspected that a natural gas leak could have caused the building to subside, but a more detailed analysis is now pointing towards structural problems in the 20-storey construction.
    Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes said officials had ruled out the gas leak hypothesis, although some experts say it is a likely cause.
    "We won't speculate about the accident's causes, but we have ruled out the possibility of a gas explosion. What has probably happened was a structure failure in the tallest building that led to the collapse of the three structures," he said.
    Two adjacent buildings, one 10 and the other 4 storeys high, also collapsed.
    Dust and debris still covered a large area of Rio's busy business district. Civil defence workers also evacuated neighbouring buildings which could have suffered structural damages.
    Police officer Julio Cesar Mafia said the tractors were working slowly because they still hoped to find survivors.
    "We really hope to find survivors. That is why we are carrying out the debris removal very carefully, to be sure that we won't harm any survivors," he said.
    On Wednesday night the electricity distribution company serving the city cut power to the area to avert the possibility of fires after a strong smell of gas was detected.
    Relatives of missing victims and people who used to work in the buildings cried as they observed the tragic scene.
    Flavia Rodrigues, who used to work in one of the buildings, said it was unbelievable.
    "We look at it and we still cannot believe it. It was ten years of work, ten years of struggle," she said.
    Rio de Janeiro is struggling to address concerns over poor infrastructure as it prepares to co-host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.
    The incident comes months after an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak ripped through a restaurant in downtown Rio, killing three people and igniting concerns over the state of the city's infrastructure.
    In recent months, Rio's residents have had to deal with unexpected explosions of sewer lines and landslides in some city slums caused by heavy rain and deforestation.
    Traffic in the area has been rearranged and the neighbouring metro stations have been reopened after careful inspection, the television channels reported.
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