Nine firefighters have been killed after a cave collapse when a training exercise went horribly wrong.
There were 28 members of the Sao Paulo Military Firemen Department in the cave in São Paulo, Brazil, when the roof fell in..
Emergency services rushed to the scene at 11:30am local time, officials said.
Nine of the firefighters died in the incident and several more were left injured. One is still in hospital with what have been described as 'non-life-threatening injuries.'
Initial efforts to carry out the rescue had been hampered by heavy rains in the area.
But as of Sunday the rescue operation was comaplete and there are no more victims unaccounted for.
The tragedy occurred on the Gruta Duas Bocas trail near the municipality of Altinópolis, which is known for the caves that are popular with tourists.
Eight of its caves are regularly visited by tourists who flock to the picturesque region.
Sao Paulo governor João Doria said of the tragedy on social media: "SP firefighters have just finished the search work in Altinópolis.
"My feelings to the family and friends of the 9 civil firefighters who lost their lives in this tragedy."
Speaking to GloboNews, Cristina Trifoni, the mother of one of the instructors participating in the training, said the group had planned to spend the night inside the cave.
She said: "What happened is that the entrance to the place they were in collapsed. I'm desperate."
The cave in comes just a year after a similar tragedy saw at least 50 people killed after a gold mine collapsed in Africa.
The artisanal gold mine collapsed near Kamituga in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The incident also happened following heavy rains in the area.
