A man takes a picture of a crane that collapsed in Sao Paulo (Picture: Reuters)

Two people are believed to have been killed after a crane collapsed at the site of a World Cup stadium in Brazil.

The incident happened at the construction site of the Corinithians Arena in Sao Paolo, which will host the opening game of the tournament next year.

Work has been ongoing at the ground and was due to be completed by the end of December.

People stand in front of a metal structure that buckled on part of the Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo on Wednesday (Picture: AP)

However, Lancenet reports that a crane, which was parked outside the stadium, suddenly collapsed at around midday local time – due to unstable soil following a rain storm.


The stadium was due to come in on budget at around £355million, and was seen as one of the key show pieces of the World Cup.



Fifa’s secretary general Jerome Valcke led the reaction on Twitter, telling his followers: ‘Extremely shocked by the news from Sao Paulo. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this accident.’

Workers stand near a crane that collapsed on the site of the Arena Sao Paulo stadium (Picture: Reuters)