Sao Paulo: Football legend Pele’s body was taken in procession and cremated. Thousands of fans attended the funeral procession and paid their respects.
Pele (82), the 3-time World Cup football champion of Brazil, died on December 29. Pele, who had been suffering from digestive tract cancer, died last Thursday after being admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Pele’s body was laid to rest early yesterday morning at the Vila Belmiro stadium in Santos, where he played football in his youth, for a public memorial. Tens of thousands of fans waited for more than 3 hours outside the stadium to pay their respects to Pele’s body.
A pavilion was set up in the middle of the stadium and Pele’s body was kept in a casket inside. Prominent dignitaries including his son Edison and FIFA president Gianni Infantino paid tribute. The casket in which Pele’s body was placed was draped with the flag of the Santos club and the national flag of Brazil.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, along with his wife Rosangela Janja, came to pay their respects. After this the body of the ‘King of Football’ Pele was taken in a procession. As Pele’s body traveled through the streets of Santos, people paid their respects along the road and bid him farewell. Pele’s body was taken to the Necropolis Ecumenica and buried in a steep 14-story building there.
