Brazil - Brazzil Mag - Subway Landslide in Brazil Swallows Bus, Cars and Trucks. 7 Feared Dead

At least seven people are disappeared and feared dead following a landslide this afternoon at the São Paulo subway's Yellow Line in Nações Unidas avenue, on the city's west side. A truck and a microbus were swallowed by the crater of about 30 meters (100 feet).

Paulo Roberto dos Santos, vice president of Transcooper, the company that owns the missing microbus, says that they were trying to locate the vehicle by satellite, cell phone and radio, but they haven't been able to contact the bus driver.

While the microbus can carry 26 people, it's believed that the vehicle wasn't transporting more than four to six passengers plus the driver and the fare collector when the accident occurred. The microbus, fortunately, had just left the Pinheiros terminal on its way to Casa Verde in São Paulo's north side and was still quite empty

Trucks working in the subway and cars parked nearby also fell in the hole. It's feared that Metro workers have been buried by the landslide too. A giant crane working in the area seemed also on the verge of falling inside the trap.

A witness said that the landslide was preceded by an explosion. The work for the construction of a tunnel and an a Metro station in the area use explosives that are detonated several times a day. It's not clear, however, if one of these explosions caused the disaster.

A Metro worker, who was close to where the accident occurred, however, said that there was no explosion before the landslide. According to him, the concrete structure simply gave way. "Everything suddenly crumbled," he told reporters. "At the time, all I could think of was God, my family and nothing else."

Fearing that houses in the neighborhood might also collapse authorities have evacuated residents in a one-kilometer radius around the crater. The accident hasn't in any way affected the circulation of the metro trains, which continue to operate normally.

At a time, 12 firemen teams were in the location. They asked helicopters from radio and TV stations to leave the area. They needed the less noise possible in order to try to listen to any help request.

According to José Luiz Portela, secretary of Metropolitan Transports, the landslide happened when the soil gave way. Portela informed that the process of caving in is still going on and engineering work in the area won't start before the ground settles down.

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written by US congress leader called leftist by O Globo, 2007-01-13 00:01:19

is it clear that a SP subway station is on its way to be constructed and the accident happended due at the metro station construction site?

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written by SS, 2007-01-14 11:35:03

I just visited Sao Paulo for the 1st time. Beautiful city. Our prayers with those involved in the recue effort

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written by ESB, 2007-01-15 07:10:06

First, it was the accident with "Gol " airways' aircraft which unveiled how disorganised our air traffic control is and how air passengers flying within Brazil are at the mercy of lady luck !

And now, we have an accident which puts the competence of our civil engineering to question.

What next?

I dread to think!

CALL BACK THE AMERICAN PILOTS......
written by Jay Glenn, 2007-01-15 12:30:09

THE SP METRO ACCIDENT MUST BE THIER FAULT ALSO.. IT COULD NOT BE A DOMESTIC SHORT FALL.

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written by Stephen, 2007-01-15 15:01:15

Some of you living here In Brazil may remember when a shopping mall blew up because of incompent instalation of the gas tanks..50 dead that time. And then there was the overhead bridge on marginal Teite that was not high enough for the transport trucks to pass underneath in the right lane. Down it came. 6 dead, a 200 km long traffic jam .Many cars stranded for 20 hours or more.. and the beat goes on!!!