Huge rock that falls on boats with tourists in Brazil cause 10 deaths

Through videos on social networks, it is possible to see the precise moment in which the massif takes off and falls on the boats, due to the fear of those who see the scene from other boats.

Brazilian firefighters indicated that this Saturday, more than thirty visitors were injured, ten dead and one missing, after a huge rock fell on some visitor boats, in a lake in the interior of Minas Gerais (southeast).

Pedro Aihara, representative of the Minas Gerais firefighters, indicated on Saturday night that the last balance of the day was seven dead and three missing.

Firefighters had detailed in a first report that 20 people were missing.

However, Aihara informed journalists, from Capitolio (municipality of Minas Gerais where the tragedy occurred), that this number was considerably reduced with the information that a large part of the victims who were not contacted where people who were transported by their own means to medical clinics.

Occurrence in Brazil

A huge chunk of rock dislodged from a ravine and fell in the opposite way on four boats that were sailing through the Furnas lake, a tourist area of Minas Gerais, on Saturday at noon.

Shocking videos were shared on social networks that showed the exact moment when the massif broke off and fell on the boats, to the fear of those who observed the scene from different boats.

Another of the recordings shows the moment prior to the break, in which a group warns that many stones were falling and shouts at the visitors of the other boats to leave the site.

Those who were in the boats near this rock, were the people who suffered great impact. This boat being the one left by the dead and missing.

The representative of the firefighters added that all the people who were in the other boats were rescued in their entirety.

The Brazilian Navy immediately moved to the site, to proceed to the rescue of the victims and investigate the event, as stated by President Jair Bolsonaro on his social networks, accompanied by videos of the tragedy.

Attention to the rains

In the data it was known that 9 of the 32 injured people had to be hospitalized, this was confirmed by the firefighters who were in charge of approaching the place together with the rescue teams, including the divers' brigade.

During the night, the search was suspended by divers. However, rescuers remained at the scene, working to search for the missing.

The reasons for the failure are still being analyzed. Firefighters say that the heavy rains that have fallen lately in southeastern Brazil was one of the causes of the landslide.