Disturbing reports coming from Brazil say there has been a fire incidence at Flamengo’s training centre leaving 10 people dead, and a further 3 are seriously injured.
Globo Esporte say the fire was in the dormitory section of Flamengo at Bingo do Urubu and has left 3 Teenage players in serious health conditions.
“Flamengo is in mourning,” the club posted on its Twitter account.
Reports from local media say;
“The kids from the Flamengo youth team were sleeping there at the time.”
Brazilian news outlet G1 has named the first fatalites as Christian Esmerio, a goalkeeper, and 14-year-old Arthur Vinicius.
Cauan Emanuel Gomes Nunes, 14, of Fortaleza, 15-year-old Francisco Diogo Bento Alves and Jonathan Cruz Ventura, also 15, have been named as the three teenage boys who are injured in hospital.
Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Henaut said Athletes between 14 and 17 years were sleeping at the club, but that none of the dead had yet been identified.
A mother of one of the athletes told local media that training this Friday had been cancelled, allowing any youth players whose families live in Rio to return to their homes.
“But players whose families lived far away had remained to sleep in the dorms overnight”.
She said: “If there had been training today, the tragedy would have been much greater.”
The fire broke out at about 5.10am local time (7.10am UK time) and took more than two hours to bring under control.
“The kids from the Flamengo youth team were sleeping there at the time.”
Instagram: “What a tragedy this with the Flamengo base. What a shock to receive this news here on the other side of the world. That it was a fatality. May God comfort the relatives who lost their children, grandchildren, brothers, nephews, relatives.
Flamengo is one of the biggest and most succesful football clubs in Latin America, and also the richest with annual revenue of over £140m.
Real Madrid’s sensation Vinacius Junior is a product of the Legendary Football institution and only left them last year for Spain.
The other side of South America, Argentina is still to come to terms with the Dead of Emiliano Sala whose body was discovered in the English Channel on Thursday after the Argentine got missing on his way to Cardiff from Mantes.
Angu Lesley
@angulesley on Twitter
