At least 10 people died while dozens of others incurred injury after a cliff face in southeast Brazil collapsed at a popular tourism spot, crushing a tourist boat filled with people, terrifying video footage shows.
The video was captured by boaters who were able to narrowly avoid being stuck under the massive cliff face. The footage shows the giant slab falling into Lake Furnas in Minas Gerais state on Saturday. It was reported that the cliff face fell at around 12:30 p.m. after days of heavy rains in the area.
Horrifying Cliff Collapse
One video showed boaters who were panicking as the cliff face slowly peeled off, sending boulders tumbling into the lake. They were shouting at others to "get away!" However, the calls appeared to have been drowned out by the sound of the waterfall in the area and the music that was being played inside the boats.
A separate video captured the moment the cliff came crashing down and crushing two boats in the water. Marcos Pimenta of the Minas Gerais civil police said that 10 people were fatal victims of the incident and added that no one was reported missing on Sunday afternoon, the New York Times reported.
The commander of the Minas Gerais State Fire Department, Edgard Estevo, held a news conference and initially said that as many as 20 people were missing after the incident. Officials said they were working on identifying the missing people. By Saturday night, many of the victims who were injured in the incident had already been released from the hospital, Estevo said.
The popular tourist spot where the incident occurred ran along the Rio Grande river, with Estevo saying that the horrifying crash took place between the towns of Sao Jose de Barra and Capitolio, where the boats initially departed from. The heavy rain was attributed to dislocating the rocks in the cliff that caused its collapse.
Authorities deployed helicopters and divers to help with the search and rescue of victims in the area. Officials also revealed that the boats in the area were filled with about 12 to 20 people each, including children, Fox News reported.
Unprecedented Incident
In an interview, Rovilson Teixeira, who has worked in the area for six years, said that he has never seen such an incident. He said that everyone who saw the incident was stunned, noting that there were many ambulances who came from other areas in order to pick up the victims.
Rescuers said that the 10 fatalities were part of a group of family and friends who were on the boat that suffered the greatest impact of the collapse. Authorities reported that all of the victims were Brazilian nationals aged between 14 and 68, based on preliminary investigations.
Tourists flocked to the popular destination to see the cliffs, caverns, and waterfalls surrounding the green waters of Lake Furnas that were formed by the hydroelectric dam of the same name. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro posted on Twitter by sharing some of the videos uploaded online, with the caption "as the unfortunate disaster occurred, the Brazilian Navy moved to the site to rescue victims and transport the injured, CBS News reported.
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