Firefighters look for victims of collapsed bike path in Rio

The civil police identified the second victim of a 26-meter-long section of a bike path that collapsed yesterday (Apr. 21) in São Conrado, a district in southern Rio de Janeiro. His name was Ronaldo Severino da Silva, 60. Another victim was engineer Eduardo Marinho de Albuquerque, 54, who also died in the incident.

The efforts in the search for a third victim—a woman, witnesses claim—were resumed early in the morning today. Deployed in the operation are 130 men from the Fire Department and the Civil Defense, supported by helicopters, water motorcycles, and divers, in addition to men surveying the beach with binoculars.

Divers have been sent to the place because the victim's body may be stuck in one of the crevices of the rock cliff. The Navy is offering support by using patrol boats to prevent private vessels to go near the area.

The Geotechnical Foundation Institute (GEO-Rio), a city government agency aimed at cliffs from crashing down, announced that no other stretches of the bike track were affected. GEO-Rio further stated that a new inspection of the structure will be conducted as soon as the sea level makes it possible. The section collapsed is 26 meters long. According to experts, a gigantic wave from the sea was responsible for the collapse, when it hit the structure from underneath it.

The bike path was inaugurated on January 17 this year. The investment in the project totaled approximately $12.3 million.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira