A famous Lisbon funicular has derailed, killing at least 17 people and injuring 21 in one of the Portuguese capital’s most popular tourist spots, officials and media said.
The yellow Gloria funicular, one of the capital’s best-known symbols, overturned on September 3 at 6:15 local time (17.15 GMT) near Liberty Avenue.
“A tragedy that our city has never seen,” Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said, moments before rescuers confirmed a toll of 17 dead and 21 injured in the accident.
Authorities declared September 4 a day of national mourning, AFP reported.
All of the victims were recovered from the wreckage, said Tiago Augusto, an official with the Inem emergency services, adding that the victims included foreigners.
Portugal’s emergency medical service authority said that five of those injured were in a serious condition. The remaining 16, including a child, sustained minor injuries, according to the BBC.
Several people were earlier said to have been trapped at the scene. They have all since been freed, authorities said.
Spain’s Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez said he was “appalled by the terrible accident”.
Moedas said the capital was “in mourning”.
The SIC TV 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”, AFP reported.
“It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” the woman said.
It is one of three funicular lines operated by the municipal public transport company Carris, headed by its president, Pedro Gonçalo de Brito Aleixo Bogas, and is used by tourists as well as local residents.
Carris said in a statement: “All maintenance protocols have been carried out,” including monthly and weekly maintenance programmes and daily inspections, Reuters reported.
“Everything was scrupulously respected,” said Bogas at the site of the accident, adding that maintenance of the funiculars has been done by an outside contractor for the past 14 years.
Footage shared widely on social media showed the bright yellow carriage overturned and almost entirely destroyed. People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as what appeared to be smoke filled the air, the BBC said.
One witness told Portuguese newspaper Observador the vehicle was “out of control, without brakes”.
“We all started running away because we thought [the carriage] was going to hit the one below,” said Teresa d’Avó.
“But it fell around the bend and crashed into a building.”
The Lisbon authorities said late on September 3 it was still too early to determine the cause of this incident.
Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway’s route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa issued a statement expressing his “sympathy and solidarity with the families affected by this tragedy”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences to the families of the victims.
On X she posted: “It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment…My condolences to the families of the victims,” AFP reported.
The tragedy “has brought grief to … families and dismay to the country,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
The Gloria funicular is one of the most famous sights and tourist attractions in Lisbon. It was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.
The iconic yellow vehicles are a crucial part of a city as hilly as Lisbon. They snake their way up many of the cobbled streets, according to the BBC.
The one that crashed travels some 275m from Restauradores, a square in the middle of Lisbon, up to the picturesque, cobbled streets of an area called Bairro Alto – or high neighbourhood – taking just three minutes to make the journey.
It, and the other funiculars, are used by Lisbon residents but they are also extremely popular with tourists – and at the end of the summer, the Portuguese capital gets very busy indeed.
