An auditorium hosting a campaign event ahead of Brazil’s upcoming elections partially collapsed on Tuesday, killing nine people and injuring at least 31, authorities said.
The accident hit during a visit to a shipping container company in Sao Paulo state by candidates running for Congress and the state legislature, officials said.
Congressional candidate Ely Santos and state legislature candidate Jones Dozinette were among those injured in the accident in the Sao Paulo suburb of Itapecerica da Serra.
Images posted online by state emergency services showed rescuers sorting through the mangled wreckage of a stage and stands pitched to near-vertical angles by the collapse.
There were 64 people in all in attendance at the time, officials said.
“We are making every effort to ensure the rescue operation moves as quickly as possible,” Sao Paulo state emergency services spokeswoman Luciana Soares said in a statement.
Brazil is due to hold federal and state elections on October 2.
