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LAST UPDATE | 4 Sep
PORTUGAL HAS HELD a day of national mourning as the death toll from the derailment of one of Lisbon’s iconic funiculars rose to 16 people, with five seriously injured.
The accident yesterday evening in one of the capital’s most popular tourist spots saw the yellow Gloria funicular veer off a steep stretch of tracks near Liberty Avenue and crash into a building.
At least 11 foreigners were among the injured – two Germans, two Spaniards, a Frenchwoman, an Italian, a Swiss national, a Canadian, a South Korean, a Moroccan and a person from Cape Verde, emergency services said, updating the death toll, which previously stood at 15.
It was earlier reported that 17 people had died, but Portugal’s prime minister Luís Montenegro confirmed this afternoon that the death toll is 16.
Fifteen people – eight men and seven women – were killed instantly and one person died later.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said it’s not aware of any Irish citizens affected.
A prosecution service spokesman said five Portuguese, two Koreans and a Swiss national had been identified among the dead.
A police spokesman said they had good reason to believe that two Canadians, a German, a Ukrainian and a US citizen were also among those killed.
Documents found on the victims, statements from people searching for loved ones and messages sent at the time of the accident meant their conclusions had “a high degree of probability”, they added.
At least 11 foreigners were among the injured – two Germans, two Spaniards, a Frenchwoman, an Italian, a Swiss national, a Canadian, a South Korean, a Moroccan and a Cape Verdean, emergency services said.
Portugal is holding three days of national mourning from today.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris had said Ireland’s embassy in Lisbon was ready to provide assistance, if needed.
He was “deeply saddened” to hear of the tragic incident.
“This is a terrible day for the city and my thoughts, and those of people across Ireland, are with the families of people who have lost their lives,” said Harris.
Authorities have halted Lisbon’s three other funiculars “to check the conditions and safety of their operations”, said municipal civil protection spokeswoman Margarida Castro.
The German foreign ministry said its Lisbon embassy was working with local authorities on identifying the victims.
The Observador news website cited a police source as saying that a German man was killed, his wife was in a critical condition and their three-year-old child slightly injured.
An emergency services official confirmed that a three-year-old had been injured but did not specify the nationality.
Footage showed police and rescue personnel working into the night around the mangled funicular, which was left lying on its side against a wall of the street.
A woman interviewed by television channel SIC said the train, which can hold about 40 people, struck the building “with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box”.
Images after the accident showed another funicular stopped a few metres (yards) away on the tracks as tourists and onlookers watched, stunned.
Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas called the incident “a tragedy that our city has never seen”.
A statement by the office of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said it had “brought grief to… families and dismay to the country”, and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen offered condolences to the victims’ families.
Lisbon prosecutors said they were opening an investigation.
The city’s public transport operator said it had complied with “all maintenance protocols”.
“Everything was scrupulously respected,” Pedro Bogas, the head of Lisbon Carris, said at the site of the accident, adding that maintenance of the funiculars has been done by a contractor for the past 14 years.
General maintenance is carried out every four years, and was last conducted in 2022, Carris said. Intermediate maintenance takes place every two years and was completed in 2024.
Antonio Javier, a 44-year-old Spanish tourist, told AFP his family were “a little relieved” to have skipped taking the funicular because the queue was too long.
Tourists and residents alike use Lisbon’s funiculars to travel up and down the capital’s steep hills, and the boxy yellow train is a common image on gift shop souvenirs.
The Gloria first entered into service in 1885 and was hooked up to electricity in 1915, according to the website of Portugal’s national monuments.
With reporting by AFP
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