Flamengo Regatas Club CEO Reinaldo Belotti made a statement late Saturday afternoon regarding the tragedy at the George Helal Training Center, which killed 10 of the club's youth players in the early hours of Friday. Without opening the door to questions from journalists, Belotti addressed several topics being discussed on social media and in the press, clarifying important points. Below are some points from Reinaldo Belotti's statement. 

Family support

I'd like to talk about what we've invested most since the accident. We've spared no effort to assist the victims' families. From the moment of this tragic accident, we arranged to bring the families to Rio and pick them up wherever they were arriving, whether at the airport or the bus station. With psychologists and social workers, we took everyone to a reception center in a comfortable hotel in Recreio, which provided the necessary privacy for them to endure this difficult time. Every move was made with our support. That's how it was done, and that's how it continues to be done.

Today, we identified five bodies and are arranging for their transfer to wherever the families choose, by commercial aircraft, if available, or by chartered jet, if necessary. In addition, we have three athletes hospitalized. We also brought their families here. We are monitoring their treatment progress at various hospitals, using doctors, social workers, and whatever else is necessary. For the one in the most serious condition, we have our own doctors on duty day and night, and we pray that he will pull through. We are confident. The first 72 hours are crucial, and we are confident that this case will be resolved soon. We sent the players who were there and were uninjured to their homes, with a club representative with each player, until they were released to their legal representatives. This is all documented. We maintain daily contact with them, via psychologists, to ensure they are being well cared for and suffer no consequences.

Documentation

The Training Center, its licenses, its permit, and its fines. This has nothing to do with the accident that occurred. We have some steps to take to fully legalize the training center. We're working hard on this with the fire department. We needed nine certificates to obtain the permit, but we already have eight. We're working with the fire department to obtain the permit.

"Extension"

We're not talking about a small extension, we're talking about a hostel. Furthermore, we were inspected—this hostel was inspected and approved by the Municipal Council for Children and Adolescents, which issued a certificate of compliance, and by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation (FERJ) and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), which issued Flamengo's training club certificate, according to the Pelé Law. And I'd like to read a short excerpt here: 

This inspection had to meet the following requirements: maintain the accommodation and sports facilities adequately, in terms of food, hygiene, safety, and health. From the moment we received the certificate I just mentioned, it was because all the prerequisites were met. And we're not talking about one institution. We're talking about two, three institutions. And this module was known to everyone. It's likely that everyone in this room had already visited the training center. It wasn't a "small addition" that we hid. Quite the opposite. It was comfortable, adequate accommodation, and we proudly showed it to everyone. Flamengo's organizational structure preventively inspected all the air conditioning units in that property. We have this documented and can share it with anyone who wants it.

Heavy rain in Rio de Janeiro

On Thursday, you'll remember, a near-hurricane hit Rio de Janeiro, with winds between 110 and 120 km per hour. Although the facilities were barely affected, the Vargem Grande region was severely impacted. We had fallen power lines, and the power supply to the training center was damaged. The assumption is that these power surges affected the air conditioning system's normal operation and caused the fire. 

This fire started, and unfortunately, when you have a fire of this size, with smoke emission, people start to faint, and you no longer have control. The truth is, a tragic accident occurred. It wasn't for lack of investment from Flamengo, it wasn't for lack of care from Flamengo. After all, this is our greatest asset. Those people who were sleeping there were our future. We value them greatly, greatly. To the point that, you know, the most competitive team, when a kid starts to excel in soccer, his dream, regardless of the team he supports, is to come to Flamengo.

continuous work

We took every precaution and spared no effort in providing the best for our staff. But unfortunately, it was a series of events following a catastrophic day in Rio de Janeiro that led to this even worse catastrophe. For now, this is all we have to say. We are working around the clock on everything that happened and are gathering all the documentation. We have highly qualified people working on this. Our priority remains to assist the families of the victims, the injured athletes, and those who were sent home. This is the absolute priority. All of us—Flamengo employees, all vice presidents, the president, the Flamengo community, the greater Flamengo family, Brazilian and world football—are in mourning and deeply sorry that this happened to us.

Full text of Reinaldo Belotti's statement