Rescuers search for seven in Brazil tunnel collapse

SAO PAULO, Jan 14 (Reuters) Rescue workers searched today through an earth-filled crater for at least seven people feared to have been buried in the collapse of a shaft under construction for a new subway station in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

Rescuers were using sniffer dogs to help locate the victims of the disaster, which occurred on Friday afternoon. The task was made more perilous by heavy rains.

The missing include the driver, fare collector and two passengers of a minibus that fell into the 30-meter hole, as well as two or possibly three passers-by and a truck driver, according to Civil Defense officials. No other victims have been found.

''We haven't given up the hope of finding people alive, because that is our job,'' Fire chief Marco Aurelio Alves Pinto told Folha de S Paulo newspaper.

The crater opened up when the walls of a shaft being dug for a subway extension subsided in the Pinheiros district of South America's largest city. Several trucks and cars tumbled into the hole, which is about 60 meters wide.

Officials say heavy rains may have triggered the collapse.

About 40 families living nearby have been evacuated and are staying in hotels. Civil Defense coordinator Col Jair Paca de Lima said today they should be able to return by Tuesday.

The collapse also caused traffic chaos on Friday as the site borders the Marginal Pinheiros, a main thoroughfare in the city, and more disruptions are predicted for tomorrow as engineers still try to stabilize the crater.

Reuters AB DB2037