Three children were among six people killed Tuesday in landslides triggered by torrential rain in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, firefighters said.

"There are six fatalities. The bodies of a child and three adults have been recovered," a fire brigade official said.

"When we tried to rescue the other two a new landslide prevented us from doing so."

Both of the final two victims were children.

Severe flooding last week in northeastern Brazil left 16 dead while days of heavy rain in Rio de Janeiro state left two people dead and some 2,000 families homeless.