Residents of Rio de Janeiro's favelas found at least 40 bodies following a police operation that resulted in numerous deaths. The bodies were discovered on Tuesday and laid out in a plaza in the Penha neighborhood. According to EFE, the agency accompanied the recovery of some of the corpses on Wednesday.
The recovery operation, still ongoing, is being carried out by residents of the Alemao and Penha favela complexes, located in one of Rio's poorest and most violent areas, without any assistance from authorities.
The official death toll from the operation stands at 64, including four police officers. It is not yet clear if the bodies recovered on Wednesday are included in this count.
All the bodies are of men, lying side by side on the ground, visible to neighbors and journalists who arrived at the scene.
The rescue operation, conducted in wooded areas near the favelas, was mainly led by women searching for their partners, brothers, or sons.
According to the latest official report, released Tuesday night, the operation left 64 dead, 11 injured, including eight police officers, and resulted in 81 arrests.
The regional government did not provide data on how many bodies were recovered on Tuesday.
The operation mobilized about 2,500 agents and aimed to execute 100 arrest warrants for members of Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's main drug trafficking gangs.
The drug traffickers responded with blockades on several roads in Rio's northern region, a poor area where the operation took place. The operations and blockades led to the suspension of about 100 bus lines and the closure of dozens of schools and health centers.
On Wednesday, the city woke up with no new blockades and normal vehicle traffic after the previous day's chaos.
