Fire breaks out in an encampment of landless workers in Brazil’s Amazon, killing 9

At least nine people were killed in Brazil’s Amazonian state of Para on Saturday night when a discharge of high-voltage electricity sparked a fire in an encampment of landless workers.

The cause of the discharge was faulty installation of internet wiring, according to a statement from the rural landless workers movement in Para. Three of the company’s employees were killed instantly and a fire raged through the shacks, killing at least six more, the statement said.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva dispatched the minister for agrarian development and family agriculture to the municipality of Paraupebas to support affected families. On X, formerly Twitter, Lula also expressed his solidarity for those who perished and were injured.

“We are working to advance in the the restart of agrarian reform, with the identification of available public lands, in order to, after years of paralysis, give work and production opportunities to rural families,” he wrote.