SAO PAULO: A building collapsed on Friday in Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, leaving at least five dead and eight others missing, civil defence authorities said.
The state’s civil defence secretary said that as of 7pm local time on Friday, four people had been rescued alive from the rubble of the building in the Janga neighbourhood in the outskirts of state capital Recife.
The Pernambuco government said on social media that eight teams had been dispatched to the site after civil defence learned of the collapse at 6.35am.
It was unclear what caused the collapse. Recife, a coastal city of some 1.5 million people, has been grappling with heavy rains in recent days.
The city and its metropolitan region were put under “state of attention” on Friday, which represents “moderate to high risk,” the government said.