A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 16 people were killed and 22 injured when Lisbon’s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.
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.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any Irish citizens affected.
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“The Embassy of Ireland, Lisbon, is monitoring the situation closely and stands ready to provide consular assistance,” she said.
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Simon Harris, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, said he was “deeply saddened” by the reports. “This is a terrible day for the city and my thoughts, and those of people across Ireland, are with the families of people who have lost their lives,” he said.
More than 800,000 Irish people travel to Portugal each year, with 4,000 expatriates living in the country, according to Department of Foreign Affairs data.
Public prosecutors have opened 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.
Lisbon resident Abel Esteves, 75, and his wife and grandson were among 40 passengers in a lower car who saw the carriage plunge towards them before derailing at the last second.
“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.”
One witness said the car toppled on to a man on the pavement.
Flags flew at half-staff and people left flowers at the site of the crash, while the Pope sent condolences and blessings to victims, relatives and rescuers.
“This is one of the greatest human tragedies in our recent history,” Portugal’s prime minister Luis Montenegro said in a televised statement, adding that he expected the investigation into the causes of the accident to be concluded swiftly.
The crash 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.
Police investigators inspected the site on Thursday and the prosecutor general’s office said it would open a formal investigation, as is customary in public transport incidents.
Manuel Leal, leader of the Fectrans union, told local TV that workers had complained about problems with the tension of the cable that hauls the carriages, which had made braking difficult.
The municipal transport company Carris said in a statement that “all maintenance protocols have been carried out”, including monthly and weekly maintenance and daily inspections.
“On Wednesday morning, the inspection was carried out and no faults were detected ... We cannot assume that the problem was with the cable. The investigation will determine the cause,” Carris chief executive Pedro Bogas told reporters.
He said the maintenance of the funicular had been outsourced since 2007 and had been performed by accredited and specialised technicians.
The two cars, each capable of carrying around 40 people, alternately climb the slope and descend as electric motors pull the cable linking them.
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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.
Lisbon’s city council suspended operations of other streetcars in the city and ordered immediate inspections, local media reported.
The Gloria line transports about three 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.
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.
– Additional reporting by Reuters agencies
