The detachment of an immense block of rock in an area of canyons much visited by local tourists this Saturday caused the death of at least six people and the disappearance of another 20 in Brazil.
The victims were aboard several boats in a lake, in a typical tourist excursion to contemplate the spectacular cliffs of the city of Capitólio, in Minas Gerais.
Teams of divers are already deployed in the area to locate the missing, according to the Fire Department, reports the Brazilian press.
But they have warned that search efforts will be interrupted when night falls.
The accident occurred shortly before noon local time, when some stones began to fall off a cliff.
In moments a huge rock fell that affected three boats full of tourists, two of them sank.
About thirty people were also injured.
The fire department spokesman explained that about 40 divers are involved in the search tasks.
"We have a team of specialized divers, supported by our Arcanjo 08 aircraft, which has the entire medical evacuation structure in case it is necessary to bring a more serious victim to Belo Horizonte or elsewhere," explained the spokesperson. Pedro Aihara, according to the
Folha de S.Paulo newspaper
.
Giant stone slide reaches boats with tourists in Capitólio (MG) and leaves a or less dead.
Veja or video pic.twitter.com/fAzjx0lzIi
- Jornal O Globo (@JornalOGlobo) January 8, 2022
The mayor of Capitólio has released a video on social networks in which he gives some detail of the event and expresses his solidarity with those affected: “We are in a state of
shock
with this, and we are in solidarity with the victims, the injured and the deaths.
It was not a waterspout, it was a landslide that hit some boats ”, declared councilor Cristiano Silva.
The scene of the event is a popular tourist destination in the State of Minas Gerais.
And now, in the middle of the summer holidays for Christmas, there were numerous visitors.
The most typical visit to the town is to contemplate the spectacular canyons aboard boats that navigate the huge Furnas Lake.
“What we have already detected is that three vessels were affected, this number could increase because we had a very large number of vessels at that time.
But we have already confirmed that three boats were hit, of which two sank ”, added the spokesman for the firefighters.
He explained, in statements to the GloboNews channel cited by the Efe agency, that this region of canyons is made up of sedimentary rocks "more susceptible to the actions of wind and rain" and therefore "have less resistance."
And he added: "we are in a fairly rainy period, which has been able to accelerate the penetration of water into the rocky structure."
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