While tourist boats were sailing on a lake in the state of Minas Gérais, in the south-east of Brazil, the collapse of a section of the cliff left at least 7 victims and many injured, this Saturday 8 January.
“At this point, there are seven dead and three missing,” Minas Gerais firefighter spokesman Pedro Aihara said in the latest report. A balance sheet, therefore, which is increasing since the previous one counted six dead and 20 missing people, in addition to 32 injured. According to firefighters, it was the testimonies of tourist agencies and relatives that had made it possible to establish a number of missing persons.
Also according to the firefighters, nine people were hospitalized among the injured. It is with various equipment and a brigade of divers that these first intervened on the spot, however the research had to stop at nightfall, for safety reasons, and resume the next day.
Since Saturday evening, a video of the impressive and sad spectacle has been circulating on social networks. On the dramatic images, we discover a huge fragment of rock that had detached itself from the cliff, before coming to collapse on the lake where three boats were passing at that time.
URGENT
Rocha desaba sobre banhistas em #EscarpasdoLago (MG)
Confira: https://t.co/xPnulAgs0E # R7Minas pic.twitter.com/zZukQA1cww
– Record TV Minas (@recordtvminas) January 8, 2022
While tourist boats were sailing in a lake in the state of Minas Gérais, in southeastern Brazil, the collapse of a section of a cliff killed at least seven people on Saturday, January 8.
Other filmed sequences
In other footage filmed by passengers who witnessed the scene from other boats, people can be heard issuing warnings that “a lot of stone is falling”, and calling on occupants of small ships to move away from the wall, but it was already too late.
The firefighters explained that the intense rains which fell in recent days in the south-east of Brazil, favored the accident.
President Jair Bolsonaro shared some of these videos on social media. He also paid tribute to the work of the Brazilian navy which “as soon as the unfortunate disaster occurred”, moved to the site and worked to “rescue the victims and transport the wounded”.
– Tão logo aconteceu o lamentável desastre em Capitólio / MG, a Marinha deslocou para a região team of socorro da Força.
– Desde então a @marmilbr vem atuando no resgate de vítimas e transported by feridos para to local Santa Casa. pic.twitter.com/lDuF0jPK7T
– Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) January 8, 2022
