The firefighters resumed, this Sunday morning (9), the search for three disappeared in a canyon in Furnas Lake, in the city of Capitólio in Minas Gerais.
At least seven people died and 32 were injured after a rock fell on tourist speedboats.
In an interview with CNN, the mayor of Capitólio, Cristiano Silva (PP), said that “wanting to point out a culprit is now an injustice”, and treated the episode as an unprecedented fatality for the region.
He said authorities’ priority at the moment is to search for the three people who are still missing.
According to the mayor, the seven confirmed dead were on board the same boat – in total, three were affected by the collapse.
The three missing people were also on this boat in question, indicated Cristiano Silva.
“Of the 32 people injured, we only have four people who remain hospitalized,” he said.
Asked about the responsibility for the canyon region, the mayor claimed: “Maritime planning is in charge of the Navy. We have the Navy in our region since 2019, and the organization is up to them.”
“Inside the canyons we have laws that prohibit people from swimming and the mooring of motorboats”, he added. The mayor said that inspection is done through a inspector using a jet ski.
The mayor criticized what he called “internet experts” saying that a photo of a crack that circulated on social media is not of the exact spot where the rock collapsed.
He points out that the only prior sign that there was before the tragedy was some stones falling off the slope – a fact that tried to be alerted by shouting by people from other boats that were in the place.
The mayor points out that the noise of two nearby waterfalls, added to the sound of the motorboats’ engines, may have interfered.
“The way is to look for technical people, and work so that there is prevention. The way is to look for specialized people, sit down with the competent bodies to draw up a plan seeking the safety of workers, the population and especially tourists”, he concluded.
Reference: CNN Brasil
