Rescue teams search for victims in the rubble of a collapsed building in the municipality of Paulista, on the outskirts of Recife, in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, on July 7, 2023. At least 11 people died and another three –a woman and two children– remain missing after the collapse on Friday of an illegally occupied building, authorities said Saturday. (Photo by Alexandre AROEIRA / AFP)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — At least 11 people have died and three remain missing after an illegally occupied building collapsed in northeastern Brazil, the authorities said Saturday.
Firefighters were continuing to search for a woman and two children under the rubble following the collapse Friday in Paulista, a municipality in the state of Pernambuco.
The dead include men, women and children, aged five to 45, according to a statement Saturday from the Pernambuco civil defense services.
It said a 65-year-old woman and two adolescents were pulled from the rubble alive.
The three-story structure, which was attached to a larger housing complex, had been closed in 2010 due to a risk of collapse but had been illegally occupied since then, the authorities said.
In April, a building in similar condition collapsed in the city of Olinda, also in Pernambuco, leaving six people dead.
Building collapses in Brazil generally happen in poorer neighborhoods where illegal construction is rampant.