Newsroom        Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – A commission of experts from the Regional Council of Architects and Engineers (“Crea”) reports that most of the underground electricity system in Rio de Janeiro has gases floating around inside it.. The commission goes on to say, as if that was not bad enough, that in the very center of the city, within a four square block area, there are no less than seven manholes and all them with close to a 100% possibility of exploding. The commission’s lead inspector, Luiz Antônio Cosenza, declared that one-third of underground chambers in the center of the city are at the limit of safety.

“Our measurements show that the underground area in the Rio city center is full of gas. Some galleries have more, others have less; but they all have gas. Around 30% of those we inspected have so much gas they could explode at any moment,” said Cosenza, who added that the gas company, CEG, was invited to send a representative to accompany the inspection but did not do so. Cosenza said the commission will now forward its conclusions to the office of the District Attorney (“Ministério Público do Estado”).

In the past 30 days more than a dozen manholes have exploded in Rio de Janeiro. In some cases, pedestrians have been badly burned.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Quase todos os bueiros do centro do Rio têm gases. Risco de explosões é grande, alerta Crea