RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 Fire tore through the sleeping quarters of an academy for one of Brazil\u2019s most popular professional soccer clubs Friday, killing 10 people and injuring three, most likely teenage players, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firefighters were called just after 5 a.m. local time to the sprawling Ninho de Urubu training grounds of the Flamengo soccer club in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s western region. Overhead images captured by an Associated Press drone showed a smoky, charred area of the complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are distraught,\u201d Flamengo President Rodolfo Landim said outside the complex, where friends, fans and neighbors gathered, some forming a circle to pray. \u201cThis is the worst tragedy to happen to the club in its 123 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did not take questions from reporters who also were outside the complex but added: \u201cThe most important thing right now is to minimize the suffering of these families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFlamengo is in mourning\u201d the team said on its Twitter account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cause of the fire was not known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those killed in the fire were not immediately identified by the club but they were athletes, said Beatriz Busch, the public health secretary for the state of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the injured youths were hospitalized in stable condition and one was in critical condition, she added. The ages of the injured were 14, 15 and 16, according to a fire official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of agency rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several people who appeared to be relatives entered the complex without speaking to reporters. Some were crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese boys suffer so much in pursuing their dreams\u201d of becoming professional players, said Caros Eduardo Araujo, a fan who left a bouquet of flowers at the gate of the complex. \u201cI\u2019ve been shaking since I heard the news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jefferson Rodrigues, who runs a small inn near the club, said he had reached a 15-year-old player he had befriended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am very happy. I just spoke to Caix Suarez and he is alive,\u201d said Rodrigues, adding that the youth told him he ran when he saw the flames. \u201cHe lost his phone, and all of his things, but the important thing is he is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joao Pedro da Cruz, a 16-year-old player in the Flamengo youth league, told the G1 news portal that he decided not to spend the night at the facility because the team wasn\u2019t going to train on Friday, and he went to a friend\u2019s house instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe majority of them (the team) stayed, my friends stayed (at the facility),\u201d he said. \u201cToday I woke up and heard this terrible news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many professional clubs in soccer-crazed Brazil, Flamengo has a development program for promising young players. Many, particularly those who live outside of Rio de Janeiro, stay at the facilities while training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dream of many youths in Latin America\u2019s largest nation, winner of five World Cup titles, is to make it into the professional ranks. The academies identify talented players at a young age, working with them as they grow, and the best eventually play for Flamengo or other teams in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flamengo is perhaps the most famous club in the country, with an estimated 40 million fans nationwide. Supporters are so attached to their academy team that players have a motto for them: \u201cFlamengo makes legends at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the most famous players to come through the club are Ronaldinho and Zico, former stars on Brazil\u2019s national team; top goal-scorer Adriano, who rose to fame at Inter Milan; and current Real Madrid star Vinicius, Jr., who not long ago was living in the building destroyed by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As news of the fire broke, several teams and players tweeted their condolences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are extremely sad and shaken by the news of the fire,\u201d tweeted Chapecoense, a team in southern Brazil that lost 22 players in a plane crash in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 Fire tore through the sleeping quarters of an academy for one of Brazil\u2019s most popular professional soccer clubs Friday, killing 10 people and injuring three, most likely teenage players, authorities said. Firefighters were called just after 5 a.m. local time to the sprawling Ninho de Urubu training grounds of the Flamengo soccer club in Rio… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3060,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}