2023-12-11 08:00:42
A short circuit during the installation of internet access wiring caused a fire at a camp of the Brazilian Land Movement (MST) in the northern state of Para, killing nine people and injuring eight others on Saturday night.
Leaders of the community, which is located a short distance from the city of Parahuapebas, explained during a press conference that the fire broke out around eight in the evening, when an antenna touched a cable of the high voltage network, as a result of which people were electrocuted and its cables caught fire electricity distribution network and accommodation in the camp. Six of the dead were residents and three were employees of a telecommunications company.
Of the eight injured, who were taken to a hospital, seven were discharged and one is hospitalized with second degree burns, however, it is not considered that his life is in danger.
According to the MST network, the fire was extinguished by the fire department.
The historic movement is fighting for land redistribution in Latin America’s largest country, sometimes occupying fields it says produce nothing and asking authorities to expropriate them.
The camp is located near 600,000 acres of land that the MST says was acquired through a land grab.
Members of the movement pointed out that the camp was offered help by the authorities, especially for the funerals of the victims, while food and water were distributed.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the Minister of Rural Development Paulo Teixeira and the head of the Land Rights and Agrarian Reform Agency (INCRA) Cesar Aldrigui to go to the area, “closely monitor the case” and offer “every support of the federal government to the families of the victims of the tragedy,” according to a statement from his services.
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