Firemen in Sao Paulo were working under arc lights into yesterday morning in a search for bodies at a church which collapsed the evening before, killing at least seven worshipers and injuring 57 others.
The streets in front of the evangelical Reborn in Christ Christian Church, in the southern suburb of Cambuci, were filled with fire trucks and ambulances.
Police kept curious residents and bystanders behind cordons as bodies pulled from the building were ferried from the scene. Grieving relatives were being counseled in a nearby shop.
PHOTO: EPA
Rescue workers said the toll could rise further. A spokesman for the fire service run by the state’s military police told reporters: “We fear there are more bodies” buried under the debris.
According to witnesses, the roof of the big building collapsed around 7pm on Sunday.
“There was a huge noise and then people started running everywhere. I saw a lot of people hurt, a lot of panic, screams and chaos ... then there were various efforts to save the people trapped under the rubble,” one man who survived told Brazilian media.
The church, which can hold up to 3,000 people, had scores of worshipers inside for a weekend service at the time.
“We’re working with numbers of around 400 people who were inside the church,” a Sao Paulo fire service official said.
He added that 150 firemen were scrambling over the debris in the search for casualties.
The reason for the collapse was not immediately known. The church recently underwent superficial renovation work, and in recent days Sao Paulo has been hit by heavy rains. The building previously housed a cinema.
The church was known in Brazil and abroad as the venue where Kaka — the Brazilian soccer star who is currently being wooed to move to Manchester City from AC Milan — married in December 2005.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
Separatists in Alberta are preparing to submit a petition tomorrow that they said has enough signatures to force a referendum on independence for the oil-rich Canadian province. Polls indicate the pro-independence camp remains a minority among Alberta’s 5 million people, but has hit a historic high of roughly 30 percent. Alberta separatists are also closer than ever to forcing a referendum, riding momentum fueled by intensifying grievances over Ottawa’s control of the provincial oil industry. They have also undeniably gotten a boost from the return to power of US President Donald Trump. After launching a petition in January, Stay Free Alberta, the group
RSS