8 April 2010

Stop Press: Over 200 people buried in last night’s landslide in Niteroi, Brazil?

Posted by Dave Petley

AP is reporting that over 200 people have been buried in last night’s landslide in Niteroi, Brazil:

“A top Rio de Janeiro state security official says at least 200 people have been buried in the latest landslide to hit the area. Civil Defense subsecretary Pedro Machado tells Globo television that the slide plowed into a slum in the city of Niteroi. Machado said Thursday that anyone there at the time was likely killed instantly.”

O Globo’s report also confirms that the landslide did occur on an old garbage dump, which was abandoned in 1986.

If over 50 houses were struck by this slide in the middle of the night a death toll of this order is certainly possible.