RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A girl and her father were killed. Four other people were injured when a four-story residential building collapsed on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro for unknown reasons, official sources reported.
Six teams of firefighters and ambulances went to the favela neighborhood of Rio das Pedras, located in the west zone of the capital of Rio de Janeiro, and have been working on the search and rescue work since early morning.
One of the fire department officers, Colonel Leandro Monteiro, told reporters that one of the fatalities is a girl between 2 and 3 years old.
Her father also died, Monteiro said, while among the injured is the mother of the deceased girl, who resisted for about six hours inside the rubble before being rescued.
Read: Rio de Janeiro building collapse leaves one dead and three injured (Update 1)
Three other people were pulled alive from the rubble, and all the injured were taken to two hospitals, although two of them were discharged hours later without serious injuries.
According to witness statements, loud noises were heard at around 2 AM local time and the building collapsed at 3:20 AM.
A fire has also been recorded at the premises and has already been brought under control by firefighters.
Although the authorities did not report the causes of the collapse, the deputy mayor of Rio’s west zone, Thalita Galhardo, did not rule out that the premises are an irregular construction. It usually happens with buildings constructed in that area.
“Unfortunately, the constructions here do not have legality, and this type of accident ends up happening,” said Galhardo in an interview with Globo.
The building that collapsed Thursday was located in the same region of the community of Muzema, also in the peripheral region of Rio das Pedras, where the collapse of two irregularly constructed buildings left 24 dead in April 2019.