Aunt And Nephew Drown After Motorbike Fall

A woman and her five-year-old nephew drowned trying to cross a bridge over a flooded river on a motorbike when they were swept away by the current.

Lorenzo Tomaz Jacinto, 5, poses in undated photo. He and his aunt Alice Marcelo, 22, they died after they fell into a river while traveling on a motorcycle on a flooded road due to the rains in Meleiro , Brazil, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2023. (Newsflash)

The 22-year-old woman has been named as Alice Marcelo and her nephew as Lorenzo Tomaz Jacinto.

Local media report that they toppled off the Rio do Cedro bridge in Meleiro, Santa Catarina State, Brazil on 22nd February.

Three-foot high floods, report local media, had left many roads impassable.

Firefighters said the aunt’s body was found on the banks of a rice farm divers later found the boy’s body under the water.

Alice Marcelo, 22, poses in undated photo. She and her nephew, Lorenzo Tomaz Jacinto, 5, they died after they fell into a river while traveling on a motorcycle on a flooded road due to the rains in Meleiro , Brazil, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2023. (Newsflash)

Classes at Lorenzo’s school, the Prefeito Luiz de Pelegrini Basic Education School, were cancelled according to local media.

The school expressed solidarity with the family on social media saying: “Feel supported and embraced by all those who love and share this difficult time with you.”

Floods and landslides are reportedly battering south-eastern Brazil, and so far 14 people have died as a result.