Supermarket bosses have been ordered to pay GBP 1.5 million in compensation after a worker died and nearly a dozen were injured when their ceiling-high shelves collapsed.

CCTV footage from the store in Sao Luis, in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, shows shelf after shelf toppling over like dominos and engulfing shoppers and staff in tonnes of products.

The footage shows terrified people at the checkouts fleeing the Mix Atacarejo store as the 50ft high shelves collapsed in October 2020.

Under the rubble, 21-year-old worker Elane de Oliveira Rodrigues was crushed to death and eight others were injured, the court heard.

Judges ordered the owners of the supermarket, the Mateus group, to pay a total of BRL 10 million (GBP 1.48 million) compensation to Brazil's citizen's aid group, the State Fund for Diffuse Rights.

The ruling by Judge Dr Douglas Martins, local media reported on June 3, opens the door for victims and their families to file claims of their own.

The case was brought to court by a Public Civil Action filed by two Brazilian consumer groups.

The Institute for the Study and Defence of Consumer Relations (IBEDEC)and the Institute for Communication and Education in Defence of Consumers and Investors(ICDESCA) took up the case after an earlier deal awarded just BRL 460,000 (GBP68,074).

Under the original deal, just GBP 31,000 (BRL 210,000) was assigned to only three victims.

Victims and their families were furious that some of the cash was going to be siphoned off by public officials to update their fire department.

As part of the now-quashed deal Mateus group also agreed to give a smart 4WD SUV to the city's MunicipalGuard police.

In the new case, prosecutors told how supermarket bosses knew the shelving system was unstable.

Two days before the deadly crash a store employee hadfilmed faults in them but nothing had been done to put them right.

Judges ruled that Mateus had not taken adequate care of the safety of staff and shoppers.