<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Fourteen people have died in the partial collapse of an illegally occupied building in northeastern Brazil, the authorities said Saturday, as they concluded a search for survivors.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier, a toll of 11 dead was announced, but firefighters searching through the debris later found the bodies of a woman and two children following the collapse Friday in Paulista, a city in the state of Pernambuco.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The dead included men, women and children, aged five to 45, according to a statement Saturday from the Pernambuco civil defense services.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Three people -- a 65-year-old woman and two adolescents -- were rescued. The authorities provided no information on their condition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The three-story structure, which was attached to a larger housing complex, had been closed in 2010 due to a risk of collapse but had been illegally occupied since then, the authorities said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In April, a building in similar condition collapsed in the city of Olinda, also in Pernambuco, leaving six people dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Building collapses in Brazil generally happen in poorer neighborhoods where illegal construction is rampant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2020, two irregularly constructed buildings in a poor neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro collapsed after days of intense rainfall. Twenty-four people died. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>