The first light over Lisbon revealed the shattered remains of the Gloria funicular, its distinctive yellow carriages in ruins after it derailed and crashed on Wednesday killing at least 15 people and injuring 23.
Since 1885, the cable railway has carried locals and visitors up and down a few hundred meters of a steep cobbled street that links Restauradores Square, a lively plaza commemorating Portugal’s independence from Spain, to the Bairro Alto district.
But on Wednesday, just as the evening rush hour was starting, one of its two cars derailed and plummeted down the street before crashing into a building, local media reported.
Footage showed frantic rescue efforts as some passengers were pulled from one of the destroyed cars while others clambered through the windows of another further down the track amid heavy smoke.
A three-year-old boy from Germany was pulled from the debris by a police officer. The boy’s father died in the crash and his mother remains in critical condition, CNN Portugal reports.
At least 23 were injured in the crash, authorities told local media. Those injured include five people in serious condition and an unknown number of foreign nationals, Portugal’s National Institute for Medical Emergencies said.
The Gloria funicular can carry more than 40 passengers and consists of two streetcars connected by a steel cable. Each car operates as a counterweight to the other.
One woman described seeing one of the carriages hurtling down the hill “at full speed” with “no brakes.”
“It hit a building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box,” she told Portuguese TV channel SIC.
Teresa d’Avo was among those on the street who fled from the tracks fearing the “out of control” carriage would collide with the one below.
“But it fell around the bend and crashed into a building,” she told local newspaper Observador.
Another witness told local media that the streetcar toppled onto a man on the sidewalk.
Emergency officials said all victims were pulled out of the wreckage in just over two hours, with dozens of crew members at the scene.
SITRA, a trade union, wrote in a post on social media that one of its members was among those killed.
Local authorities say it is too early to determine the cause of the incident.
However, the Lisbon Firefighters Regiment reported that a cable detached along the line, causing the funicular to lose control and crash into a neighboring building, according to Observador.
As the scale of the catastrophe unfolds, the nation awakens on Thursday to three days of mourning declared by the government.
Suspended events include a book festival at Belém Palace, originally scheduled to run from Thursday to Sunday with literary signings, concerts and games.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his condolences to families affected by the incident which Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas called “a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences while Pedro Sánchez, prime minister of neighboring Spain, said he was “appalled by the terrible accident.”
Lisbon City Council suspended operations of other streetcars in the city and ordered immediate inspections, local media reported.
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.
It follows another accident on the same line in May 2018, when one of the cars derailed due to flaws in the maintenance of its wheels, Reuters reported. No one was killed in that incident.
Lisbon hosted around 8.5 million tourists last year, and long lines of people typically form to experience the Gloria’s brief journey.
Designated as a national monument, around three million passengers board its carriages every year, according to tourism officials.
Famed streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, derails and crashes, killing 15 people
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A picturesque electric streetcar that is one of Lisbon’s big tourist attractions derailed and crashed Wednesday, killing 15 people and injuring 18 others, emergency services said.
Five of the injured were in serious condition and a child was among the injured, Portugal’s National Institute for Medical Emergencies said in a statement, adding that an unknown number of foreigners were among the injured.
Authorities called it an accident, the worst in the city’s recent history, and it cast a pall over Lisbon’s charm for the millions of foreign tourists who arrive every year. Officials did not immediately provide a cause of the crash.
The yellow-and-white streetcar, which is known as Elevador da Gloria and goes up and down a steep downtown hill, was lying on its side on the narrow road that it travels on, its sides and top crumpled. It appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends, leaving parts of the mostly metal vehicle crushed.
“It hit the building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box…” Teresa d’Avó told Portuguese TV channel SIC. She described the streetcar as out-of-control and seeming to have no brakes, and said she watched passersby run into the middle of the nearby Avenida da Liberdade, or Freedom Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare.
Portugal declares day of mourning for 15 people killed in Lisbon funicular railway crash
Another 18 people injured when Gloria funicular railway car derails and apparently crashed into a building
A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.
An emergency services spokesperson said some foreign nationals were among the dead but would not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities. At least 18 people, including a child, were injured, five of them seriously.
Public prosecutors have launched an investigation into the cause of the disaster.
Footage showed the wreckage of the yellow and white car – which is known as Elevador da Glória and goes up and down a steep hill in central Lisbon in tandem with one going the opposite way – lying on its side in the narrow street it traverses.
Its sides and top were crumpled, and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends. Parts of the vehicle, made mostly of metal, were crushed.
Witnesses told local media that the streetcar careened down the hill, apparently out of control. “It hit the building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box …” Teresa d’Avó told Portuguese TV channel SIC.
One witness said the streetcar toppled on to a man on the pavement.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. It reportedly occurred at the start of the evening rush hour, at about 6pm. Emergency officials said all victims were pulled out of the wreckage in just over two hours.
SITRA, a trade union, wrote in a post on social media that one of its members had died in the incident.
“It’s a tragic day for our city … Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident,” Carlos Moedas, the mayor of the Portuguese capital, told reporters.
Portugal’s government declared that Thursday would be a day of national mourning. A statement from the office of prime minister Luis Montenegro said the tragedy “has brought grief to … families and dismay to the country”.
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.
In a statement the president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, lamented the accident and expressed hope that authorities would soon establish the cause of the crash.
The line, which opened in 1885 and is classified as a national monument, connects the central Lisbon area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter), known 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 residents.
Carris said in a statement that “all maintenance protocols have been carried out”, including monthly and weekly maintenance programmes and daily inspections.
Lisbon’s city council suspended operations of other streetcars in the city and ordered immediate inspections, local media reported.
The Gloria line transports about 3 million people annually, according to the town hall.
Its two cars, each capable of carrying about 40 people, are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors on the cars.
The car at the bottom of the line was apparently undamaged, but video from bystanders broadcast by CNN Portugal showed it jolting violently when the other one derailed and several passengers jumping out of its windows and people shouting.
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.”
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that he was “appalled by the terrible accident”, while Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani wrote that he had met the Portuguese foreign minister and expressed his “solidarity with the victims”.
Portugal, and Lisbon in particular, has experienced a tourism boom in the past decade, with visitors cramming into the popular downtown area in the summer months.
A spokesperson for the UK’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”.
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.
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