By Mary Carroll, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Scaffolding at the old Scala in Leblon, where a new car dealership is due to open, has collapsed in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, June 5th, between Rua Humberto de Campos and Rua Professor Antônio Maria Teixeira. Although ten employees were inside the building at the time, none were injured.
Taxi drivers noticed that the structure began to look unstable around 11PM on Monday night, as it began to shake with the strong winds.
A resident, Ana Terra Oliveira, notified the Municipal Guard and Civil Defense, who she praised for “arriving quickly”, who then prevented traffic and people from passing through.
The scaffolding structure was pressed against three power cables. “We heard a crackling and we saw smoke and sparks. With the wind the structure was beginning to fall and I even saw a little fire on the wire” explained Terra Oliveira.
When the last cable gave way, the scaffolding collapsed along with it at exactly 2:47 AM. A portion of a pole fell and crushed a car in front of Special Tourist Police (DEAT), however no one was harmed.
The ten workers who were inside said they were shaken by the experience. As one of the workers describes “We were asleep, it was a huge scare. We thought that the building was collapsing.”
The Civil Defense believes the fall may have been due to poor assembly of the structure or because of the strong winds. A team from the Coordination of Special Operations has been brought in to resolve the problem.
In other traffic news a bus and a car collided on Avenida Brasil in Zona Oeste (West Zone) around 8AM this morning (Tuesday). According to firefighters, six people were injured.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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