BRAZIL Dorm fire at Rio soccer club academy kills 10, injures 3
RIO DE JANEIRO — Fire tore through the sleeping quarters of an academy for one of Brazil’s most popular professional soccer clubs Friday, killing 10 people and injuring three, most likely teenage players, authorities said.
Firefighters were called just after 5 a.m. local time to the sprawling Ninho de Urubu training grounds of the Flamengo soccer club in Rio de Janeiro’s western region. Overhead images captured by an Associated Press drone showed a smoky, charred area of the complex.
“We are distraught,” Flamengo President Rodolfo Landim said outside the complex, where friends, fans and neighbors gathered, some forming a circle to pray. “This is the worst tragedy to happen to the club in its 123 years.”
He did not take questions from reporters who also were outside the complex but added: “The most important thing right now is to minimize the suffering of these families.”
“Flamengo is in mourning” the team said on its Twitter account.
The cause of the fire was not known.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella ordered three days of mourning, and President Jair Bolsonaro issued a statement lamenting the fire had taken “the young lives at the beginning of pursuing their professional dreams.”
Those killed were not immediately identified by the club but they were athletes, said Beatriz Busch, the public health secretary for the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Two of the injured youths were hospitalized in stable condition and one was in critical condition, she added. The ages of the injured were 14, 15 and 16, according to a fire official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of agency rules.
Several people who appeared to be relatives entered the complex without speaking to reporters. Some were crying.
“These boys suffer so much in pursuing their dreams” of becoming professional players, said Caros Eduardo Araujo, a fan who left a bouquet of flowers at the gate of the complex.
Samuel Barbosa, 16-year-old who survived the fire, told Globo TV news that a lot of smoke filled the dorm. “Most didn’t make it because there was so much fire,” Barbosa said.
Like many professional clubs in Brazil, Flamengo has a development program for promising young players. Many, particularly those who live outside of Rio de Janeiro, stay at the facilities while training.
The dream of many youths in Latin America’s largest nation, winner of five World Cup titles, is to make it into the professional ranks.
Flamengo is perhaps the most famous club in the country, with an estimated 40 million fans nationwide.