Death Toll in Fortaleza Building Collapse Rises to Five

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Thursday morning, October 17th, teams from the Fire Department removed from the rubble the body of Nayara Pinho Silveira, 31, whose father’s body had been found a few hours earlier, according to the Chief of the Ceará Fire Department, Colonel Luís Eduardo Holanda, who is coordinating search operations in the collapsed area.

The colonel also reported that, with the retrieval of this fifth body today, there are still five people missing.

“We continue to work to find five people. We are working now in search of a possible signal, working at a point where there may still be people alive,” the commander said at a press conference.

A group of 130 firefighters, split into several teams, with the support of volunteers, is working uninterruptedly on site.

In addition to the removal of this body yesterday morning, the deaths of Antônio Gildasio Silveira, 60, Frederick Santana dos Santos, 30, Izaura Marques Menezes, 81, and an unidentified woman whose body remains in the rubble have been confirmed.

The Andrea Building, located at the intersection of Rua Tibúrcio Cavalcante and Rua Tomás Acioli, in the Dionísio Torres neighborhood, collapsed on Tuesday morning, October 15th.

The causes of the collapse are under investigation.

Source: Agência Brasil