14 fatalities in Brazil building collapse

It was confirmed by rescuers that at least 14 people, including six children, lost their lives when a building partially collapsed in northeastern Brazil, late on Saturday. The initial death toll of 11 was revised after the bodies of a woman and two children were discovered amidst the wreckage on Friday in Paulista. The fatalities included men, women, and children between the ages of 5 and 45, as stated by the Pernambuco civil defense services.

Rescue teams, assisted by search dogs, managed to save two 15-year-old girls and a 65-year-old woman. Additionally, an 18-year-old man, who was initially rescued alive, succumbed to his injuries later on. Furthermore, the fire department mentioned on Saturday that the ongoing search efforts were now focused on the recovery of animals.

The three-story building, which was connected to a larger housing complex, had been closed in 2010 due to the risk of collapse but had been illegally occupied since then, as confirmed by the authorities. City officials referred to the structure as a "coffin block," a term used for buildings constructed on a large scale in the 1970s in the metropolitan area of Recife, according to the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

A similar incident occurred in April in the city of Olinda, also in Pernambuco, where a building in a comparable state of disrepair collapsed, resulting in the deaths of six people. It should be mentioned that building collapses in Brazil are predominantly concentrated in impoverished neighborhoods where illegal construction is rampant. For example, in 2020, during a period of heavy rainfall, two poorly constructed buildings in a low-income district of Rio de Janeiro collapsed, resulting in the loss of 24 lives.