Wearing a face mask, a man carries a coffin containing the body of a landslides victim at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil's government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. Photo: AP
Wearing a face mask, a man carries a coffin containing the body of a landslides victim at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil's government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. Photo: AP
People walk past coffins containing bodies of victims of landslides at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Rio state's Civil Defense department said on its website that 231 people were killed in Teresopolis and 247 in Nova Friburgo, a 75-kilometer drive to the west of Teresopolis that draws hikers and campers to mountain trails, waterfalls and dramatic views of lush green slopes. Photo: AP
The body of Waldecir Motta de Lima, a victim of a landslide, is carried on a stretcher after being recovered by rescue workers in Cascata de Imbui, Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. After four nights of torrential rains, mudslides have killed more than 500 people in the Rio de Janeiro area. Photo: AP
People react as rescue workers carry the body of a victim after a landslide in Nova Friburgo. Nearly four days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides, officials in the Brazilian town of Teresopolis are still struggling to cope with the scale of the catastrophe that has killed at least 564 people in the region north of Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Reuters
Family members of a victim of landslide wait for information at the morgue in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazi. After four nights of torrential rains, mudslides have killed more than 500 people in the Rio de Janeiro area. Photo: AP
Wearing face masks to prevent infections, men carry coffins containing bodies of children during a mass funeral for landslides victims at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil's government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. Photo: AP
Wearing face masks to prevent infections, people carry a coffin containing the body of a landslides victim at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil's government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. Photo: AP
A landslides victim is buried at a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil's government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. Photo: AP
Relatives of landslide victims wait for information at the morgue in Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. After four nights of torrential rains, mudslides have killed more than 500 people in the Rio de Janeiro area. Photo: AP
Men look at an area damaged by a landslide in Nova Friburgo, north of Rio de Janeiro. Nearly four days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides, officials in the Brazilian town of Teresopolis are still struggling to cope with the scale of the catastrophe that has killed at least 564 people in the region north of Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Reuters
Coffins containing bodies of victims of landslides sit on the floor of a cemetery in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Rio state's Civil Defense department said on its website that 231 people were killed in Teresopolis and 247 in Nova Friburgo, a 75-kilometer drive to the west of Teresopolis that draws hikers and campers to mountain trails, waterfalls and dramatic views of lush green slopes. Photo: AP
Published Jan 16, 2011
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Brazilians on Sunday prayed for victims of devastating floods near Rio de Janeiro after the death toll from the natural disaster rose to at least 610 and was predicted to climb again. Emergency workers in the disaster zone, in the Serrana region just north of Rio, were overwhelmed by the body count. Refrigerator trucks had to be brought in to store corpses. Workers transporting bodies said they feared the overall death toll could top 1 000 as rescuers reached outlying hamlets.
As of late Saturday, the death toll stood at 610 people, with the worst-hit towns being Teresopolis, Nova Friburgo and Petropolis, civil defense officials said. Outlying villages also reported deaths. An estimated 14 000 people were assisted by rescue workers or lost their homes in the Serrana area towns hardest hit about 100 kilometers from coastal Rio, civil defense figures showed.
