LISBON - At least 15 people died and 18 were injured on Sept 3 when Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railway car, which is popular with tourists and is one of the city’s symbols, derailed and crashed, an emergency medical service spokesperson told reporters.

Authorities did not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities, but said some foreign nationals were among the dead. Five people were gravely injured, the spokesperson said.The accident happened at 6:15pm local time on a steep stretch of tracks near Liberty Avenue.The SIC television channel quoted a witness as saying that the funicular, which can hold about 40 people, hit a building as it sped down the steep street “at full speed”.

“It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” the woman said.The New York Times reported that the Lisbon Firefighters Regiment said that the acciden, was caused by “a cable that came loose” in the structure of the funicular, which lost control and crashed into a building.

“It’s a tragic day for our city... Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident,” Mr Carlos Moedas, mayor of the Portuguese capital, told reporters.

Portugal’s government declared a day of national mourning on Sept 4.

Footage from the site showed the destroyed yellow tram-like funicular, which carries people up and down a steep hillside in the Portuguese capital. Emergency workers were pulling people out of the wreckage. NYT also said local media reports said the victims included those who had been inside the car that crashed, as well as nearby pedestrians.

Police investigators were inspecting the site and the prosecutor general’s office said it would open a formal investigation, as is customary in public transport accidents.

The line, which opened in 1885, connects Lisbon’s downtown area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter), famous for its vibrant nightlife.

It is one of three funicular lines operated by the municipal public transport company Carris and is used by tourists as well as local residents.

The Lisbon 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 an outside 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.T he yellow funicular is a ubiquitous image on souvenirs in the city’s gift shops.

The Gloria is the city’s most famous. It first entered into service in 1885 and was hooked up to electricity in 1915, according to the website of Portugal’s national monuments. It transports around three million people annually, according to the town hall.

Its two cars, each capable of carrying around 40 people, are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors on the two cars.

The car at the bottom of the line was apparently undamaged, but video from bystanders aired by CNN Portugal showed it jolting violently when the other one derailed and several passengers jumping out of its windows and people shouting.

Grief and dismay

Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa lamented the tragic accident in a statement, expressing hope that authorities would soon establish what had caused the crash.The tragedy “has brought grief to... families and dismay to the country,” said a statement from the office of Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that “it is with sadness that I learned of the derailment... My condolences to the families of the victims”.Portugal, and Lisbon in particular, has experienced a tourism boom in the past decade, with visitors cramming the popular downtown area in the summer months.

Britain is the largest source of tourism to Portugal, followed by Germany, Spain and the United States. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was in touch with the local authorities and stood by “to provide consular assistance if there are any affected British nationals”. REUTERS, AFP, NYTIMES

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