Nine firefighters killed in cave collapse during training exercise in Brazil

BRAZIL-CAVE-COLLAPSE
Firefighters working to rescue civilian firefighters buried in a cave after a collapse in Altinopolis
Sao Paulo State’s Military Police
Lily Waddell1 November 2021

Nine firefighters were killed in a cave-in during a team training exercise on Sunday.

They were part of a rescue team practicing techniques in Duas Bocas cave, in Brazil when the cave collapsed.

The Sao Paulo state Fire Department said one of the firefighters was rushed to hospital with minor injuries.

There were 26 people taking part in the training at the time the tragic accident unfolded.

Sixteen people were left trapped in the cave-in, the fire department said.

There were 75 firefighters deployed throughout the day to rescue those trapped in the cave, Ministry of Public Security said.

Two rescue helicopters, Emergency and Disaster Assistance Group and military police teamed up for the rescue operation.

Sao Paulo State's Military Police released photographs of firefighters working on the rescue mission.

The cave which collapsed was located near the city of Altinopolis, some 200 miles north of Sao Paulo city.

Governor of Sao Paulo Joao Doria paid tribute to the families of the victims in a heartfelt Twitter post.

He tweeted: “SP firefighters have just finished the search work in Altinópolis.

“My feelings to the family and friends of the 9 civil firefighters who lost their lives in this tragedy.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in