SAO PAULO, Brazil — An Italian tourist was killed in southern Brazil when the car she was in was dragged into a river during a flood, Brazilian authorities said.
According to AP(CP), civil defence officials say the 40-year-old woman was on her way to the airport in the tourist city of Florianopolis on Saturday when rising waters pulled the car off a bridge. Sgt. Ismael Rocha said Sunday that another Italian woman and a Brazilian woman also were in the vehicle but escaped unharmed.
Italian consul Attilio Colitti identified the victim as Valeria Biavaschi, from Italy’s Sondrio Province.
Nearly 17,000 people have been driven from their homes in the southern Santa Catarina state because of heavy rains recently. In Rio de Janeiro, floods and mudslides have killed nearly 800 people.