BSS
  13 Jan 2025, 10:37

At least seven dead in Brazil landslides

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Landslides caused by torrential
rains in southeast Brazil have left at least seven people dead and four
others missing, rescue services in Minas Gerais state said Sunday.

Six people died in the city of Ipatinga, where 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) of
rain fell in the space of one hour on Saturday night, the mayor's office
said.

Firefighters pulled the body of an eight-year-old boy from the rubble of a
house destroyed by a landslide.

Two bodies were found in other parts of the city and rescuers were searching
for three other people buried under a mudslide.

A body was also found in the nearby town of Santana do Paraiso.

Latin America's biggest country has been rocked by several extreme weather
events over the past year.

Massive floods caused by days of record-breaking rain killed more than 180
people in the south of the country in April and May.

Brazil also suffered a historic drought linked to climate change, laying the
ground for the worst wildfires in 17 years, which consumed vast chunks of the
Amazon rainforest.