SAO PAULO: Thousands of mourners lined the streets as Brazilian football icon Pele was laid to rest in Santos, the city of his former club.

Pele had been lying in state for 24 hours in the centre of the pitch at the club’s Urbano Caldeira stadium for the public to pay their respects.

People crowded the streets on Tuesday as his coffin was carried on a fire truck to a private family funeral.

Pele – a three-time World Cup winner – died at the age of 82 on 29 December.

Arguably the world’s greatest ever footballer, he had been receiving treatment for colon cancer since 2021.

Brazil’s government declared three days of national mourning after his death, and the country’s new president – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – travelled to Santos to pay his respects.

Covered with a Brazilian flag, Pele’s coffin was carried on a fire truck through the packed roads of fans.

The procession also passed by the house where his 100-year-old mother, Celeste Arantes, still lives.

Santos FC said more than 230,000 people had attended his 24-hour wake in the Vila Belmiro stadium, where a steady stream of mourners continued through the night.

The funeral cortege ended at the port city’s Memorial Cemetery, where a Catholic funeral service was held before Pele was interred in a 10-storey mausoleum that holds the Guinness World Record as the tallest cemetery on Earth.

Pele’s coffin was paraded through Santos on a fire truck – as is the Brazilian tradition – while fans accompanied the cortege chanting “Pele, 1,000 goals”.

Hundreds of people waved huge banners and were wearing the No10 shirt.

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