Forensic experts in Porto Alegre are working to determine the cause of the fire and identify the victims.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a defunct hotel being used as a makeshift shelter for the homeless in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, officials said.
Rescuers confirmed 10 victims Friday in Garoa Floresta, which was operating without a proper permit, according to the fire department in Rio Grande do Sul state.
The fire broke out around 2 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT), officials said. It took firefighters about three hours to get it under control.
“Forensic experts are on the scene to identify the victims and investigate the cause of the fire,” the fire department said in a statement.
Porto Alegre Mayor Sebastiao Melo wrote on X that many injured people were rescued and taken to hospital, but did not say how many. Local media reports put the number of injured at 11, some in serious condition.
Images shared by Brazilian media from the night showed the building engulfed in flames as firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze.
“I only had time to put on my flip-flops and run. My sister, who lived on the third floor, ended up burned to death,” 56-year-old Marcelo Wagner Schelech told local newspaper Zero Hora.
“It happened very quickly. People were shouting 'fire!' “When I saw it, it was already two doors away from me. I ran out as fast as I could because there was already a lot of smoke,” an unidentified resident of the building also told the G1 news site.
State Governor Eduardo Leite promised to investigate the incident.
“Firefighters sent five trucks and dozens of firefighters to fight the flames,” he wrote on the social network.
“We will continue to work on the consequences of this tragedy and on the investigation of the causes. My condolences to the families of the victims.”
State lawmaker Matheus Gomes accused the city government of funding the homeless shelter despite facing reports of non-compliance “for years.”
“There needs to be an investigation into not just the fire, but the predicted entire chronicle of this tragedy,” Gomes wrote on X.
The building is part of the Garoa group, which has at least 10 small hotels in Porto Alegre.
In 2022, a fire broke out in another of the hotels, in which one person died and 11 were injured.