A number of people have been injured after two high-rise buildings – one twenty floors high – collapsed following an explosion, allegedly caused by a gas leak, late last night in the downtown area of Rio de Janeiro. A smaller building – under construction – also collapsed.

(...)

“The whole building collapsed as if it had imploded. It was like the World Trade Center. I heard an enormous bang and saw it all happen,” eyewitness Luiz Antônio Jean Trajan told O Globo newspaper.

Originally posted by GLontra


A gas explosion wouldn't cause three buildings to collapse. It's simply impossible.

riotimesonline.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

“At first I though someone was throwing rocks and it wasn’t serious. Then I started to take some steps back and all of a sudden the building collapsed. It came down completely, looking somewhat like the September 11 incident,” said one eye-witness.

But Mr Paes said: 'The possibility of a gas leak is very small. We don't know the cause, but it must have been structural damage and not an explosion. As we get more information we'll pass it on.' Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

"I started to hear a crackling. I thought they were gunshots. When I looked up, I saw the top floors falling," maintenance worker Julio Cesar de Oliveira Brandao told CNN affiliate TV Record.

Electrical engineer Jorge Drauss told TV Record he was drinking juice at a nearby diner when he saw small stones falling from the top of one of the buildings. "I thought it was someone making a hole for air conditioning," he said. "From one moment to another, the building began to fall."

Originally posted by Lee78
reply to post by GLontra

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What a coincidence.....ok maybe wrong word but hey link to my thread here

More importantly this part of my thread here.This post in relation to Rio

Back in the box with me

Originally posted by vogon42
FTA on CNN, does not sound like a gas explosion either.

www.cnn.com...

"I started to hear a crackling. I thought they were gunshots. When I looked up, I saw the top floors falling," maintenance worker Julio Cesar de Oliveira Brandao told CNN affiliate TV Record.

Electrical engineer Jorge Drauss told TV Record he was drinking juice at a nearby diner when he saw small stones falling from the top of one of the buildings. "I thought it was someone making a hole for air conditioning," he said. "From one moment to another, the building began to fall."