Girl, 3, Killed And 17 Injured By Massive Torrent Of Water From Burst Mains

Girl, 3, Killed And 17 Injured By Massive Torrent Of Water From Burst Mains

A three-year-old girl has been killed and 17 injured after a main water pipe burst, shooting a torrent of water 65-foot into the air.

The little girl - named as Isabella Severo dos Santos - drowned and her home was destroyed when the pipe exploded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Footage shows how the incredible barrage of water also destroyed her family home.

The Globo television network ran images of a rescue worker wading through knee-high water carrying little Isabela in his arms.

One distraught woman tells the camera: "Here it is, I'm a hard working woman, I am a fighter. I ended up okay, but Isabella, how did it come to this? Three years old."

The pressure of the water was so powerful it destroyed dozens of homes and swept away vehicles, leaving a path of devastation and debris.

Aerial footage from local media showed the water destroying residential homes in the poor western district of Campo Grande.

Around 17 houses crumbled because of the six-foot-high flooding, and more than 140 people were forced out of their homes.

Firefighters used floating platforms to rescue people who had been trapped by the rising flood water. The cause of the break was not immediately clear.

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