44 still missing after Brazil building collapse: firefighters

Police officers look on as firefighters work to extinguish the fire in a building that collapsed after catching fire in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 1, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Forty-four people have been listed as still missing a day after a 24-story building used by squatters in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, was engulfed in flames and collapsed, the city’s fire department says.

Initial reports after the disaster on Tuesday said that only three were unaccounted for, including a man who was seconds from being successfully rescued by firefighters before the tower block crashed down.

"The fire department is continuing to search, currently with 31 vehicles, 78 firefighters," the department said in a tweet on Wednesday.

"44 missing," the department added.

There was no indication whether those missing were considered likely to have been killed and buried in the debris, or whether they simply were not present at the time.

Some 146 homeless families had occupied the building, a disused former police headquarters, officials said, blaming the incident on the lack of even basic fire prevention measures.

The specific cause of the fire has yet to be established.

Sao Paulo suffers huge economic inequality and poor families often squat in disused buildings or erect tents and shacks on vacant land, sometimes near wealthy areas.

Michel Temer, the deeply unpopular president of Brazil, briefly visited the scene of the incident and got a hostile reception. "We want housing!" a crowd chanted before he hurriedly left.