A baby of one year and eight months and a man of 35 years died in the early hours of Tuesday (7), after the collapse of two buildings in the capital of Belo Horizonte.
According to the Fire Department of Minas Gerais, three other people were injured and were taken to hospitals in the region.
The agents received the call of the occurrence at 00:28 this Tuesday. The baby was found at the beginning of the search, while the adult’s body was removed from the rubble around 4:30 am.
Lieutenant Filipe Rocha, who participated in the rescue operations, explained in an interview with CNN New Day which were two buildings that collapsed: a four-story building, which had no people inside, and another three-story building, where two families lived.
“All the victims had some degree of kinship [entre si]. The baby who died was the daughter of one of the victims, who was pulled alive from the rubble. They were found in the same room, in the same room”, reported the lieutenant.
“The 35-year-old man was in the next room. He was the stepfather of the girl who was rescued alive and lost his daughter in the tragedy”, he added. The other victims who were rescued alive were not left under the rubble and were safely evacuated.
The lieutenant explained that the causes of the accident are not yet known. “Yesterday there was a large volume of rain, but even with this information, we still cannot establish the cause that generated this disaster”, said Filipe Rocha, explaining that it is difficult to establish a cause related to rain because it is not an area of slope.
He added that the work of the Fire Department has already been completed because authorities believe that all victims have already been located. “At first what remains necessary at the moment is isolation. The Civil Defense is on site and the Civil Police will carry out the investigation to understand the cause of this misfortune”, he declared.
At least 13 vehicles and 36 firefighters, in addition to a team with dogs, worked in the rescue operation. The Military and Civil Police, together with SAMU, also provided support.
According to the Civil Defense of Belo Horizonte, the property that collapsed was private and had no record of occurrences or structural risks. Authorities also confirm that it was not raining at the time of the landslide.
“The causes and circumstances of the collapse will be investigated by the Civil Police. A Civil Defense team is on site carrying out inspections of the surrounding properties”, informed the Civil Defense in a statement.
Reference: CNN Brasil
