At least 15 people have been killed and 18 others injured after a carriage on Lisbon’s famous Gloria funicular derailed and crashed, emergency services said.
Portugal’s emergency medical service authority said that five of those injured were in a serious condition. The remaining thirteen, including a child, sustained minor injuries.
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”. Lisbon’s mayor, Carlos Moedas, said the capital was “in mourning”, adding it was a “tragic moment for the city”.
Emergency services said foreigners were among those killed were, although nationalities could not be confirmed.
It is unclear how many people were on board at the time of the cable railway crash, which occurred near the Avenida da Liberdade around 18:05 on Wednesday evening.
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 appears to be smoke filled the air.
One witness told Portuguese newspaper Observador the vehicle was “out of control, without brakes”.
Judging by the location it crashed and somebody interviewed saying that “they were afraid it would hit the vehicle below”, it careened down for quite a distance since it crashed near the bottom.
Mind you, that specific funicular doesn’t actual travel that much of a distance (maybe 400m if I remember correctly - it’s been a long time since I had a reason to go to that part of Lisbon).
Also because it’s not that long a distance, it’s actually faster to just walk it up or down for most people than wait for it, plus this was the one coming down (as deduced from there being one below), so it’s quite likely that most people in it were tourists.
Damn. Riding funiculars was my thing on vacation trips.
That’s horrible and properly terrifying. My condolences to the families of the victims. I hope the investigation leads to improving the safety of the funicular so that they can put it back in service. It’s such an important feature of the city.
Fuck! I rode that a few months ago!
