Lisbon funiculars suspended after accident kills 17 people

Lisbon City Council has decided to shut three more funicular cable railways for inspection, after at least 15 people were killed when one derailed on Wednesday.

The accident on the Glória funicular, a popular tourist attraction in the city centre, also injured more than 20 others.

The dead were all adults, according to Margarida Castro Martins, head of Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency, who did not disclose the victims' nationalities.

Foreigners were among the 21 wounded, she added, noting that the injured came from Cape Verde, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, South Korea and Spain as well as from Portugal.

Wednesday's tragedy, which took place at around 6pm on Wednesday, has raised concerns about safety on Lisbon's other cable railway systems.

The Bica, Lavra and Graça funiculars were suspended "in order to carry out technical inspections", the Lusa news agency reported.

Like the Glória funicular, the Bica and Lavra cable railways were inaugurated at the end of the 19th century, while the Graça funicular only opened to the public last year.

Some people have questioned whether they have been adequately maintained.

"This issue of lift maintenance has been systematically raised by the very workers who operate these funiculars, regarding the need for greater maintenance of this rolling stock," said Manuel Leal, the head of the Transport Federation (Fectrans) in an interview with RTP.

The carriages used to be maintained by Carris, Lisbon's public transport company, but maintenance work is currently carried out by an external company.

Carris, which has launched an inquiry into the accident, has insisted that maintenance protocol and daily inspections were "scrupulously respected".

"We're investigating, the inquiry is underway, there are also external organisations investigating what happened," said Pedro de Brito Bogas, the chair of the company's board.

Although the cause of the crash is not yet known, Portuguese media suggested that it occurred after a cable broke. There were also reports of brake failure.

At the time of the accident, one of the funicular cars had stopped, while the other, which was at the top of Calçada da Glória, came off the tracks and crashed at high speed.**

The authorities are currently trying to ascertain exactly what happened. During the night, several inspectors could be seen collecting evidence at the scene.

"This is an exceptional scenario, not a typical crime scene," said the director of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Judicial Police, João Oliveira, in a statement.

"We don't have any sure indicators that could point to criminal action at the root of these events," he added.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed hope that the cause of the derailment "will be quickly clarified by the competent authorities".

Identifying the dead

The death toll was previously 15, but the number rose to 17 on Thursday after two seriously injured people were confirmed to have died.

The Institute of Forensic Medicine expects to finalise autopsies on Thursday morning, after teams of coroners from Coimbra and Porto were called in.

"There are great difficulties in identifying the victims because some of them are foreign nationals," said João Oliveira, director of the Judicial Police.

The city council has declared three days of municipal mourning, with Mayor Carlos Moedas calling it "a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen".

The Portuguese government also announced a day of national mourning, which will take place on Thursday.

As a result of the accident, Luís Montenegro, the country's prime minister, cancelled his schedule for Thursday, with the exception of a videoconference about the war in Ukraine.