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Overpass collapses in World Cup host city; at least one dead

by Reuters
Thursday, 3 July 2014 19:27 GMT

(Recasts to add more details, comments throughout)

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, July 3 (Reuters) - An overpass collapsed in the Brazilian World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 10 more, an emergency official said.

Television images showed part of a passenger bus crushed under the overpass and news website G1 said another two trucks and a vehicle were also smashed.

The accident site is around 3 km (2 miles) from the Mineirao stadium, where a World Cup semi-final match will be held next Tuesday. The stadium has already hosted five games.

A fire department official told GloboNews that at least one person was killed and 10 injured. A spokeswoman for the Belo Horizonte fire department told Reuters there were reports of several injuries, although she would not confirm the death.

The overpass was one of the many infrastructure projects aimed at improving the city's ailing public transport network. The bridge was to be used as for passenger buses in a system known as BRT/Move, considered a legacy project from the World Cup.

Heavy government spending on the World Cup and long delays in finishing promised infrastructure projects have spurred violent street protests in Brazil over the past year, although they have died down in recent weeks. (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Caroline Stauffer and Tiago Pariz; Editing by Kieran Murray)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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