BRAZIL: At least 70 people believed missing after deadly mudslide hits slum in Niteroi

Record ID: 332988

  • Title: BRAZIL: At least 70 people believed missing after deadly mudslide hits slum in Niteroi
  • Date: 9th April 2010
  • Summary: NITEROI, BRAZIL (APRIL 8, 2010) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) RESCUE TEAMS USING DOG TO SEARCH FOR VICTIMS RESCUE TEAMS AND RESIDENTS DIGGING MUD WITH SHOVELS WOMAN CRYING AND CALLING ON HER FAMILY VARIOUS OF FIRE FIGHTERS CARRYING VICTIM'S BODY (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA6YENPPYTSJ5B6L0UUUG66QP47
  • Story Text: Hundreds of rescue workers scrambled on Thursday (April 8) to find residents buried by a landslide near Rio de Janeiro as the death toll from heavy rains in Brazil's second-largest city rose to 153.
    Search teams rescued 21 people from the wreckage of houses swept away by a mudslide late on Wednesday in the city of Niteroi, across a bay from Rio. They said six bodies were pulled from the mud and another 70 are believed missing from that incident alone.
    The heaviest rains in more than 40 years, which started on Monday, triggered close to 200 mudslides that crushed shacks in hillside slums, causing most of the deaths and leaving thousands of people homeless.
    Most of the damage was concentrated in slums where about a fifth of Rio's people live, often in precarious shacks. The neighborhood of Morro do Bumba, where the Wednesday night landslide occurred, was built atop a former garbage dump.
    Niteroi was the worst affected area with at least 85 people dead, the fire department said, while 48 were killed in Rio.
    Authorities say at least 10,000 houses still are at risk of collapse and the national government has sent security forces to help with rescue operations. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes has appealed to the federal government for 370 million reais ($208 million) in aid for emergency operations.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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