At least ten people are known to have died and at least three are seriously injured after a fire at the training centre of Brazilian side Flamengo.
Firefighters were called to the Ninho do Urubu training centre after the fire broke out at around 5:15am local time. The blaze was not extinguished for over two hours.
Globo Esporte reports that the fire was in ‘accommodation for the Flamengo base categories’, meaning the area which housed the club’s youth players, aged between 14 and 17.
In a tweet, Flamengo said they were ‘in mourning’.
The fire reportedly broke out as players were sleeping in the dormitory. The cause of the fire is unknown, and the identities of the casualties have not yet been revealed. Those who were injured have been taken to a local hospital.
The training centre is situated in the Vargem Grande area of Rio de Janeiro, which has been among the hardest hit areas in a storm which has recently struck the city.
Power and water supplies were hit by the storm, meaning that the training centre was without light and water when the fire broke out.
The training centre underwent a major expansion last year, with 23m reals (£4.8m) spent on renovations, but the area in which the fire occurred was one of the older areas.
The fire did not spread to the neighbouring areas of the training centre in which Flamengo’s senior players are housed.
All training sessions due to take place on Friday have been called off, while the decision has been taken by the Rio de Janeiro Football Association to postpone Saturday’s league clash between Flamengo and their rivals Fluminense.
