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BFF-06
BRAZIL-DISASTER
Brazil building collapse death toll reaches nine: official
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll from an apartment
building collapse in northeast Brazil reached nine on Saturday, an official
said, after the body of the last missing person was found in the rubble.
Seven people were pulled alive from the debris of the seven-story
residential building in an upscale neighborhood of Fortaleza city in Ceara
state after it crumbled Tuesday.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the disaster, a spokeswoman
for the Ceara public security department told AFP, confirming nine people had
died.
The tower had been built illegally, G1 news site reported earlier in the
week, citing the city council.
Building collapses in Brazil tend to happen in poorer neighborhoods, known
as favelas, where illegal construction is rampant.
In April, 24 people were killed when two buildings in a favela in Rio de
Janeiro collapsed after several days of heavy rain.
aBSS/AFP/MSY/0850 hrs