Nine firefighters killed during training exercise

BRAZIL: Nine firefighters died on Sunday in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state after the roof of a cave in which they were training collapsed, authorities said, raising the death toll from three.

“There were nine dead and one person rescued. No more victims at the site,” the Sao Paulo fire department said on Twitter.

The accident occurred as a group of 26 firefighters were on a training exercise in a cave near the city of Altinopolis, the Sao Paulo fire department said on Twitter.

“The roof of the cave collapsed”, trapping part of the group, it said.

A previous report said 15 firefighters were still buried, and that three of the victims who were rescued suffered fractures and hypothermia. Five people in total were taken to a local hospital and discharged, according to the mayor’s office. Police and emergency health teams joined firefighters in a desperate effort to free those that were trapped, but the work was hampered by heavy rains. – INDIA TODAY