And so is Globe coverage from the country.
"Blaze in Brazil ruins party for Carnival workers" by Associated Press / February 8, 2011
RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio de Janeiro’s world-famed Carnival went up in flames yesterday for thousands of people who spent nearly a year preparing for the spectacular event.
Seamstresses, set designers, and musicians watched in tears as firefighters struggled to control a blaze that raged through warehouses holding many of the elaborate costumes and floats they had assembled for this year’s samba parade.
With just a month left before the March 6 start of the competition, there is no way to fully replace them.
“Do you know what it feels like to work all day, into the night, to make this happen, and then this?’’ asked Graziela Goncalves Carvalho, a seamstress with Uniao da Ilha do Governador, one of the groups that appeared to have suffered heavy losses. “It’s over. There’s nothing. This Carnival is over for us.’’
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