LISBON/London (TIP)- Investigators sifted through the wreckage of a streetcar in downtown Lisbon on Thursday, trying to determine why the popular tourist attraction derailed during the busy summer season, killing 16 people and injuring 21, five of them seriously. The Elevador da Gloria came off its rails during the evening rush hour on Wednesday when it was packed with locals and international tourists. Officials cordoned off the crash site, and were taking photographs and pulling up a metal cable from beneath the rails that climb one of the Portuguese capital’s steep hills. “This tragedy … goes beyond our borders,” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said at his official residence, calling it “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past.” Portugal observed a national day of mourning Thursday.
The electric streetcar, also known as a funicular, provides a short and picturesque trip a few hundred metres up and down a city street. It is harnessed by steel cables, with the descending car helping with its weight to pull up the other one, and can carry more than 40 people.
Officials declined to comment on whether a faulty brake or a snapped cable may have prompted the descending streetcar to careen into a building where the steep road bends.
The Prosecutor General’s office said coroners had so far identified the bodies of five Portuguese, two South Koreans and one Swiss national, without disclosing further details of those killed. Portugal’s judicial police chief, Luis Neves, said there was a “high degree of certainty” that there were also two Canadians, one American, one Ukrainian and one German among the dead, although the identities could not yet be officially confirmed.
15 hospitalised after bus crashes in British capital
Fifteen people were hospitalised on Thursday after a double-decker bus mounted the sidewalk and crashed outside one of London’s busiest railway stations.
Police said another two people were treated by medics at the scene of the crash near Victoria Station. None of the injuries is believed to be life-threatening.
The driver of the Route 24 bus was among the injured in the morning rush-hour collision.
This is such a heartbreaking tragedy. My thoughts are with the families of the victims and the entire community in Lisbon. I hope the investigation provides clear answers and leads to meaningful safety improvements for public transit everywhere.
This is such a tragic accident. My thoughts are with the victims’ families and the entire community in Lisbon. I hope the investigation provides clear answers to help prevent anything like this from happening again.