Death toll from Brazil waterfall rock face collapse rises to 10

Relatives of victims who died after a wall of rock collapsed on top of motor boats below a waterfall in Capitolio reacts at the Medico-Legal Institute in Passos, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil January 9, 2022. REUTERS/Washington Alves

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Ten people died in the dramatic collapse of a canyon rock face on top of motor boats visiting a waterfall in southeastern Brazil, rescuers said on Sunday.

A tower of rocks suddenly broke away from the canyon wall on Saturday and came crashing down, crushing one of the leisure boats at Capitolio in Minas Gerais state. Shocking video images circulated on social media.

Firemen and divers recovered three more bodies from the lake on Sunday, raising the death toll to 10 in the disaster that injured some 30 tourists hit by falling rocks and a huge wave of water caused when the column of rock crashed into the lake.

The region has been under heavy rainfall for two weeks, which could have loosened the rock face. On Saturday, a dike overflowed at an iron ore mine 300 kilometers to the east, cutting off a major federal highway.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Chris Reese)