Tuesday, 30 July 2013

One dead, 13 hurt in Rio as water main bursts

RIO DE JANEIRO: A three-year-old girl drowned and 13 people were injured Tuesday as a major water main ruptured, destroying several homes in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, authorities said.
Civil Defense named the victim as Isabela Severo dos Santos and said a total of 13 people were admitted to a nearby hospital with injuries, updating a previous toll."We tried to revive her while she was being rushed to hospital," Colonel Sergio Simoes, a fire chief, told Globo News television.

Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral rushed to the scene in the Campos Grande district and vowed to assist residents.

"It is time to show solidarity. Material losses do not compare with the loss of this girl," he added.

"Those who lost their homes will be relocated and compensated" by the local water utility, the governor said.

Television footage showed water spewing from the broken pipe, sweeping away cars, trees, garbage containers and dozens of rickety homes as a mountain of trash piled up on the main street.

At least 60 brick houses were flattened and several others flooded as water reached nearly seven feet in many streets.

The homeless were being sheltered in a local school where they tallied their losses to receive compensation.

"I was asleep and woke up when I heard a clattering sound on the roof. Then the walls started collapsing," Agilson da Silva Serpa, who survived with only a knee injury, said.

"We were on the second floor and the water was so powerful that it hurled us to the other side of the street. We landed outside our neighbors house."

Juliana Lemos said her house was destroyed but her family is safe. "My children are fine. They were asleep, and I made it with only a foot injury," she told Globo News before boarding an ambulance.

The cause of the accident was not yet known. The water utility opened an investigation while Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes announced a separate, independent probe.

Power and water in the area were cut off. Firefighters used inflatable boats to rescue stranded residents while several ambulances rushed the injured to hospitals.

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