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Fire Engulfs Rio's Carnival Center

   VOA News  February 07, 2011
   Smoke billows from a fire raging through warehouses of a samba school,
   where  floats,  costumes  and  props  of the Rio Carnival are made and
   kept, in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, February 7, 2011.

Photo: Reuters

   Smoke billows from a fire raging through warehouses of a samba school,
   where  floats,  costumes  and  props  of the Rio Carnival are made and
   kept, in Samba City, Rio de Janeiro, February 7, 2011

   A massive fire has swept through a warehouse district in the Brazilian
   city  of  Rio de Janeiro, where costumes and floats used in the city's
   famed Carnival are made and stored.
   An official for the organizers of the annual festivities said the fire
   Monday  was  a  tremendous  loss.   Most  of the Carnival groups were
   nearly ready for the parades that are set to begin next month.
   A  large plume of black smoke was seen above the Sambadrome, where the
   parade takes place.  There were no immediate reports of injuries.
   Hundreds  of  thousands of tourists attend the festivities in Rio, the
   biggest Carnival in Brazil.   Â

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