Sao Paulo, Brazil – Rescue crews on Sunday found a minibus buried under tons of rubble following the collapse of a subway station construction site, but unstable ground forced them to retreat before they could reach any of the seven people believed to be trapped, officials said.
The walls of a huge hole being excavated for the station collapsed on Friday, creating an enormous crater that swallowed the minibus and other vehicles. Witnesses said the minibus was carrying a driver, fare collector and two passengers.
Two pedestrians and a truck driver who was working at the construction site next to one of Sao Paulo’s busiest highways may also be buried under the rubble, said Bruno Davanco, a spokesman for the Sao Paulo subway company.
“We are working under the assumption that there may be at least seven people trapped underneath the rubble,” Davanco said.
After rescuers were forced to turn back late Sunday, they tried taking another approach to the minibus, but that effort was complicated by large chunks of concrete that prevented them from going deeper into the crater, authorities said.
Authorities said they still hope to find survivors more than 48 hours after the collapse.
“It is possible that an air pocket buttressed by a beam or something else may have been created,” Col. Joao dos Santos of Sao Paulo’s fire department told reporters. “The oxygen in the air pocket could help anyone trapped underneath to survive.” Above the rubble, heavy machinery was being used to remove earth and debris from the hole. But workers were moving slowly and carefully to avoid causing another collapse.
Distraught relatives of the missing spent hours at the site, hoping their loved ones would be found alive.
“I am praying to God for help,” Thais Ferreira Gomes, the wife of fare collector Wescley Adriano da Silva, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper. “Only he can do something.” Witnesses said the 130-foot-wide circular hole lined with concrete gave way without warning on Friday, creating a 260-foot-wide crater filled with construction debris.
More than 100 people living near the site were evacuated Saturday because of fears a 55-ton crane teetering at the edge of the crater might topple over. Several construction workers were hurt after Friday’s collapse, but officials said none suffered life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation, but the consortium of Brazilian companies building the subway station said in a statement that heavy tropical rains may have contributed by softening the ground under the site. The companies denied negligence was a factor.
