Canyon wall falls onto boats in Brazil and kills several people, authorities say

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

World

Canyon wall falls onto boats in Brazil and kills several people, authorities say



A boat navigates a canyon in Furnas Lake, near Capitólio, Brazil, in September 2021. (Andre Penner/Associated Press)

By María Luisa Paúl
Today at 4:47 p.m. EST|Updated today at 7:13 p.m. EST

A massive rock formation fell on top of three boats in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais on Saturday morning, leaving at least seven people dead and about 30 injured, officials said.

Video shows the rock slab break away from a Lago de Furnas canyon wall while onlookers scream. The collapse caused a massive wave that sent boats flying, a clip shows, with at least one wrecked boat sinking into the water. Brazilian authorities verified the authenticity of the video.

Link to tweet

Officials were searching for 20 people believed to be missing, Pedro Aiharas, a spokesperson for the Minas Gerais Fire Department told The Washington Post. He said that about 20 people were treated at the scene, and that nine were taken to hospitals with serious injuries. One person was in critical condition with head injuries. Three women and four men were confirmed dead. The fire department said the collapse sank boats, but it did not know how many.

{snip}

By María Paúl
María Luisa Paúl is a reporter on the General Assignment Desk. Before joining The Washington Post's 2021 summer intern class, she served as talent and inclusion director at Notre Dame's student newspaper, the Observer, and interned at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald as a bilingual reporter. Twitter https://twitter.com/marialuisapaulr

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/08/brazil-rockslide/

[Carlitos Brigante]

1. .

That's awful. Nature sure seems to have a way to make us feel small.

[Faux pas]

3. That's

sad. Mother Nature always wins.

[DownriverDem]

4. On the news

& watched it twice. Unbelievable that it just fell right on them.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. Thats some bad farking luck there

I mean, it's been there for millions of years and NOW decided to fall. Someone had some seriously bad mojo.

[Mr. Evil]

6. Not bad karma. Just bad timing.

It was going to fall eventually and it fell at that time.

Bad karma would seem to indicate that those poor people had it coming because they were bad. I don't see that. They were just out enjoying nature.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Yes, my brain went blank

I knew Karma wasn't correct but couldn't conjure the correct word. I'm getting old.

[Demovictory9]

10. watching the video, the boats had time to leave. everyone was watching the cliff begin to crumble.

one boat was, at the list minute able to power out of there.

[getagrip_already]

8. looks like they had some warning.....

One of the vids shows smaller chunks falling off as boats leisurely circled to get a close look.

It's never a good idea to look up at a rock slide. It looks like there was time to clear the area.

[Lasher]

9. You're right.

I don't understand Portuguese, but it's pretty clear people were warning them to get away.

Link to tweet

[Demovictory9]

11. yes. people were warning. trying to get them to move

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Yep. They had plenty of warning.

They were yelling at the boats, "Get out of there." "There is a lot of rock." And it was obvious the rocks were falling into the water.

[JHB]

13. They probably thought they were far enough away

And if it had just crumbled downward at the shore, they would have been.

Instead, the column toppled forward mostly intact, and they weren't far enough away for that.

[Aussie105]

12. Gravity can do that.

Same for large tree branches.

Cliff faces and tree branches - they will do what they want, when they want.

Solution? Don't park your boat or car under a cliff or tree.

But what were the chances of that collapse happening right there and then?

Vibration from the boat's propellors or engines?

[NurseJackie]

15. The idea of watching innocent people being killed has zero appeal to me at all.

I'm not a ghoul.

[Aussie105]

17. There is always an assumption

that if you are a tourist, on holidays or in a foreign country participating in an activity organized by others - like taking a tiny boat under a tall cliff - that you can't get hurt, can't get killed.

Not ghoulish to watch this once to see what happened. Just the once, mind. Twice would be suspicious.

[catsudon]

16. don't bring a boat

to a Canyon wall fight