(Rio de Janeiro) At least ten people were killed on Saturday in Brazil when a section of cliff gave way before falling on boats sailing on a very touristy lake in the state of Minas Gerais (south-east) , according to a report released Sunday by the police.
At this point, the deaths of “ten people” have been confirmed, the regional police officer in Passos, Marcos de Souza Pimenta, told reporters. The victims, Brazilian, were between 14 and 68 years old, according to preliminary elements of the investigation.
They were part of the same group of relatives and friends who were in the boat that suffered the most impact in the landslide, according to firefighters.
Not all of the bodies were intact, Marcos de Souza Pimenta said.
The last two people still missing were found dead on Sunday by the emergency services. The body of a third missing was found by firefighters on Saturday.
A previous report, communicated by firefighters, reported seven dead and three missing, in addition to 32 injured.
Among the injured, nine were hospitalized, according to the firefighters who intervened on the spot with various equipment and a brigade of divers.
At midday on Saturday, a large fragment of rock broke away from its wall and fell on three boats sailing on Furnas Lake, a site popular for its green waters and spectacular parade of rock walls.
In dramatic footage shared on social media, the exact moment the rock mass breaks away and falls on the three boats can be seen, causing panic among passengers watching the scene on other boats.
On other recordings, just before the tragedy, we see people issuing warnings saying that “a lot of stones are falling” and calling on the occupants of the boats to move away from the wall.
There to celebrate its 25 years
Ramilton Rodrigues, a friend of a young man who was killed in the tragedy, awaited Sunday with relatives for the arrival of the bodies at the forensic institute in Passos, a town located about forty kilometers from the lake.
My friend “had come from Capitolio to celebrate his birthday. He would have been 25 this Sunday, ”he said.
President Jair Bolsonaro shared some of the videos of the accident on social media, praising the work of the Brazilian Navy which, “as soon as the unfortunate disaster occurred”, moved to the site and moved on. used to “rescue the victims and transport the wounded”.
The intense rains that have fallen in recent days in southeastern Brazil have favored the accident, according to firefighters.
The Capitolio region, 300 kilometers from the capital Belo Horizonte, attracts many tourists with its rock faces, canyon and waterfalls encasing Lake Furnas formed by a hydroelectric reservoir of the same name.