TWENTY-TWO people were killed when a mudslide buried a guesthouse on the popular backpacker island of Ilha Grande, off Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro coast, in the early hours of the new year.
The mudslide was caused by heavy rains which have left at least 40 dead across Rio state over the new year holiday, which marks the height of Brazil’s summer tourist season.
At least 50 guests and workers were in the luxury Sankay guesthouse on the island’s Bananal Beach when it was hit by a wall of mud and rock.
Fire officers have recovered 22 bodies. Another five people who were injured were said to be in a grave condition. Rescuers are still searching for any further victims. Most guests were asleep at the time of the disaster. At least four houses beside the guesthouse were also hit.
The rescue effort was hampered by the remote location of the Sankay guesthouse, with fire officers relying on navy ships to get equipment to the island.
Ilha Grande is a popular location with local and foreign tourists. It is the largest of a series of islands along Rio’s southern coast, which still boast the region’s original Atlantic rainforest, which had once extended across southeastern Brazil but has since been largely cleared.
A second landslide also hit the tourist resort of Angra dos Reis, located on the mainland, facing Ilha Grande.
At least 20 people were buried when houses in a shanty town nestled under a steep hill in the centre of the town were buried under mud and vegetation.
Rescuers have recovered five bodies and are searching for other missing residents. The local mayor has declared the Angra area – renowned in Brazil as a millionaire’s playground – a disaster zone.
The heavy rains also caused flooding in the old colonial town of Paraty, to the south of Angra dos Reis, and a string of landslides near the town forced the closure of the main coastal highway linking the city of Rio de Janeiro with the busy port of Santos in São Paulo state, to the south.
The rains in the city of Rio eased long enough for more than one million people to welcome in the new year at the traditional party and firework display on Copacabana Beach.
However, authorities were maintaining a state of alert, with more than a dozen buildings, mainly in the north of the city, said to be at risk of collapse because of flooding.
Several small landslides have caused a number of deaths in the city’s shanty towns since Wednesday.