A 10-month-old baby who was swept out of his mother’s arms when a mudslide hit their home has been found dead.

Cristiane Rodrigues da Silva, 35, was unable to hold onto her baby son, Benjamin, when the mudslide hit their house in the Brazilian city of Maceio in the early hours of Tuesday 15th June.

The flow ended up sweeping them both into a stream, and Benjamin was washed away.

Neighbours and firefighters searched for the boy and they eventually found his dead body submerged in the stream not far from his home in the neighbourhood of Cha de Jaqueira in the afternoon of the same day.

The boy’s father, 35-year-old Anderson da Silva, was also injured in the mudslide and he and his partner were taken to the State General Hospital.

Anderson was treated for several superficial wounds and a fractured leg. Cristiane was treated for injuries all over her body and received stitches to her head and right shoulder.

It is unclear if the couple has since been discharged.

The mudslide was caused by heavy rains that hit Maceio in the early hours of 15th June, also causing flooding as well as several landslides like the one that hit the family.

In some areas of the city, over 110 millimetres (4.3 in) of rain fell in just 12 hours, which is over 30 percent of the total rainfall expected in the whole month.

More heavy rain is forecast in the state of Alagoas, of which Maceio is the capital, throughout the rest of the week.