AKIPRESS.COM - A 26-storey building has collapsed after being engulfed in flames in Brazil's largest city, São Paulo, killing at least one person, BBC said.

More than 150 firefighters are battling the blaze which is thought to have been caused by a gas explosion.

The high-rise had been occupied by squatters, and firefighters fear more people may have been trapped inside.

Witnesses said flames spread quickly from the fifth floor and set an adjacent building on fire.

Some 50 families had moved into the building in the Largo do Paissandu area of the city after the federal police force, which had been using it, vacated it some years ago.