Three men – two Indians and a Pakistani – have been left homeless after a fire devastated the house they were renting in Alporchinhos, Lagoa.
The blaze started early on Sunday morning (April 17).
“My wife heard a bang and called me,” a neighbour told Correio da Manhã newspaper.
When he went outside to see what had happened, Guilherme Neves saw fire raging in the nextdoor house.
He tried to put it out with a hose, and called emergency services as his efforts proved fruitless.
Firefighters quickly took over and 30 minutes later the blaze had been extinguished – though the inside of the house was left completely destroyed.
All that appears to be known is that the fire started in the room of one of the tenants, who was out for a morning walk.
The other two men are said to have still been sleeping, but were able to make it out of the house safely.
“We don’t know if it was a short circuit or a problem with a home appliance that started the fire,” said the property’s owner Vítor Gomes.
PJ criminal police are investigating.
Gomes said he will now try to repair the damage, so that the three men – all migrant workers aged between 30 and 50 and employed picking oranges – can move back in.
Where the men are staying in the meantime has not been explained.
