Portugal investigates causes of cable car crash that killed 16
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LISBON - The Portuguese authorities were investigating on Sept 4 what caused a funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill and derail, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building.
The mangled wreckage of a yellow tram-like carriage, which carries people up and down a steep hillside in the Portuguese capital, lay where it had left the track and hit a building, just metres from its twin at the bottom of the steep 265m slope. The traction cable linking them had snapped.
Lisbon resident Abel Esteves, 75, and his wife and grandson were among 40 passengers in the lower car who saw the carriage plunge towards them before derailing at the last second.
“When I saw another carriage coming down, I told my wife: ‘We’re all going to die here,’” he said. “It picked up a brutal speed, took a slight turn and hit the building with a loud bang.”
Flags flew at half-mast as Portugal declared a day of mourning for the victims. The city’s remaining two lines were shut for inspections, the authorities said.
Thirty-eight people were involved in the accident, with 15 killed at the scene while one more died in hospital overnight. Lisbon’s director of emergency services Margarida Martins had earlier said that 17 had died.
Among the injured were four Portuguese, two Germans, two Spanish, one Korean, one Cape Verdean, one Canadian, one Italian, one French, one Swiss and one Moroccan, she said.
The furnicular derailed and hurtled down a hill, killing at least 17 people and injuring 21 when it crashed into a building.
PHOTO: EPA
The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it assumed some of its citizens were among the victims.
Ms Eliane Chaves, a Brazilian who has lived in Lisbon for 20 years, said she walked past the funicular every day. “It is truly sad,” she said, as tears streamed down her cheeks. “People say it was negligence, but it was not negligence. They supervise it thoroughly. It was an accident, just like a plane or car accident can happen.”
Braking system
Mr Manuel Leal, leader of the Fectrans union, told local TV that workers on the Gloria railway – one of the symbols of the city – had complained about problems with the funicular’s haulage cable tension that made braking difficult, but it was too early to say if that was the cause of the crash.
Municipal public transport firm Carris said in a statement that “all maintenance protocols have been carried out”, including monthly and weekly maintenance programmes and daily inspections.
Police took photos of the wreckage and inspected the braking system on the undamaged carriage.
The car at the bottom of the line jolted back a couple of metres and was apparently undamaged, but videos from bystanders show several passengers jumping out of its windows.
The line, which opened in 1885, connects Lisbon’s downtown area near Restauradores Square with Bairro Alto, or Upper Quarter, famous for its vibrant nightlife. The Gloria line transports around three million people annually, according to the town hall.
Some local media outlets reported that a German family of three were among the victims, including a three-year-old child who suffered minor injuries, while the father died and the mother was seriously hurt.
Portugal, and Lisbon in particular, has experienced a tourism boom in the past decade, with visitors cramming the popular downtown area in the summer months. REUTERS
