Portugal: 15 dead, 18 injured in Lisbon after funicular derails

A famed Lisbon funicular derailed Wednesday and smashed into a building, killing at least 15 and injuring 18 in one of the Portuguese capital’s most popular tourist spots.

“A tragedy that our city has never seen,” Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said of the accident involving the yellow Gloria funicular, one of the capital’s best-known symbols.All of the victims have been recovered from the wreckage, said Tiago Augusto, an official with the Inem emergency services, adding that they included foreigners.

Rescuers confirmed a toll of 15 dead and 18 injured. Details of their identities were not immediately available.

Authorities declared Thursday a day of national mourning.

The accident happened at 6:15 pm local time (1715 GMT) on a steep stretch of tracks near Liberty Avenue.

Images shared on social media showed the moments immediately following the tragedy, with the funicular appearing out of a cloud of smoke and debris, completely smashed against a wall.

Another funicular was stopped a few metres away on the tracks as tourists and onlookers watched, stunned.

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”.

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“It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” the woman said.

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.

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Lisbon prosecutors were opening an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

A large number of firefighters, police and other emergency personnel remained at the scene into the night, surrounding the badly damaged train that remained on its side, AFP journalists saw.

Grief and dismay

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”.

The tragedy “has brought grief to… families and dismay to the country,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.

Lisbon’s three funicular cars are popular with tourists and locals alike to get up and down the city’s steep streets.

“We’re a little relieved” to have skipped taking the funicular, Antonio Javier, a 44-year-old Spanish tourist, told AFP. He, his wife and two children decided against it because the queue was too long.

The 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.