The lifeless bodies of three people who were missing were found Saturday in the wreckage of an apartment building that collapsed not far from Hesifi, in northeastern Brazil, raising the death toll from the disaster to 14, according to authorities.

Firefighters have ended their search after finding a woman and two children who were missing after the building was reduced to rubble in the early hours of Friday. The block of flats was ordered to be abandoned in 2010 because it was in danger of collapsing, but its occupants have since occupied the building.

The disaster also injured another 11 people, aged between 5 and 45, the Civil Protection of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco said in a previous report.

A 65-year-old woman and two teenage girls managed to be pulled out alive, according to the same source.

In April, another building that had also been ordered to be abandoned by the authorities, in Olinda, also in the state of Pernambuco, collapsed, killing six people.

Such disasters are comparatively common, especially in poor areas, where illegal constructions are the norm.

When heavy rains occur, raising the risk of landslides, the threat is magnified for slum dwellers.

In 2020, the collapse of houses built without a permit in a favela (slum) in Rio (southeast), after several days of heavy rains, claimed the lives of 24 people.

In February, 65 people died in a landslide triggered by record rainfall in San Sebastião, a seaside resort 200km from Sao Paulo (southeast). In 24 hours, twice the monthly average rain fell in the region.

About 9.5 million people live in areas at risk of being hit by landslides or floods out of Brazil’s total population of 215 million, according to official figures.