At least five people died and an estimated 20 others were missing in Brazil after the collapse this Saturday of a cliff on several tourist boats in a lake in the interior of Minas Gerais (southeast), firefighters reported.
“So far there are five confirmed deaths” and “the current estimate is 20 missing people,” in addition to 32 people who were injured, Colonel Edgard Estevo da Silva, commander of the Minas Gerais Firefighters, told a press conference.
At noon on Saturday, a large rock fragment detached itself from a ravine and fell, perpendicular, on top of three boats that were strolling through Furnas Lake, a tourist region of Minas Gerais.
In dramatic videos shared on social networks, you can see the exact moment when the massif detaches itself and falls on the three boats, to the panic of the passengers who witness the scene from the other boats.
Another of the records shows the minute before the fall, in which several people warned that “many stones are falling” and yelled at the occupants of the other boats to move away from the wall.
At least 32 people were injured, nine of whom had to be hospitalized, according to firefighters, who work at the scene with various rescue teams, including a brigade of divers.
Searches will be interrupted overnight for security reasons and resumed in the morning.
The number of disappeared was estimated on the basis of “information from witnesses, tourism agencies and relatives,” said Colonel Estevo.
The heavy rains that have fallen in recent days in southeastern Brazil favored the detachment, according to firefighters.
The Capitolio region, 300 km from the capital Belo Horizonte, attracts many tourists with its rock walls and waterfalls that surround the green waters of Lake Furnas, formed by the hydroelectric dam with the same name.
