At least 15 died and 18 others were injured in Lisbon, Portugal on Wednesday after the famous lacquering Lacera derailed and crashed into the building. The accident occurred at 18:15 local time on a steep track section near Liberty Avenue.
“The tragedy that our city has never seen,” said Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas about an accident concerning yellow gloria funicular, one of the most famous symbols of the capital.
All victims were pulled out of the debris of Tiago Augusto from the emergency services inm and noted that there were foreigners among them. Rescuers reported 15 dead and 18 injured, although the identity of the affected has not yet been released.
Thursday was declared a day of national sadness.
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The head of the European Union Ursula von der Leyen published on X that “it is a sadness that I learned about derailment … My condolences to the families of victims”.
The tragedy “brought sorrow to … families and dismay into the country,” said the Prime Minister Luis Monteténa.
The pictures shared on social media showed moments immediately after the tragedy, and the bench appeared from a cloud of smoke and remnants, completely broken against the wall.
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Another bench was stopped several meters on the tracks when tourists and spectators watched, amazed.
Here’s what eyewitnesses say
The Sic TV channel quoted a witness as he said that ropes that could hold about 40 people hit the building as he accelerated the steep street at “full speed”. “He hit the building with a brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” the woman said.
The operator of the public transport in Lisbon said he followed “all maintenance protocols”.
“Everything was conscientiously respected,” said Pedro Bogas, head of Lisbon Carris, on the scene of the accident and added that the delicacy of the delicatessen was carried out by an external supplier in the last 14 years.
“General maintenance is carried out every four years and was last carried out in 2022,” Carris said. Medium maintenance takes place every two years and was completed in 2024.
Lisbon prosecutors opened the investigation of the circumstances of the accident.
A large number of firefighters, the police and other emergency personnel remained on the scene and were surrounded by a seriously damaged train that remained on the side, was seen by AFP journalists.
(Tagstotranslate) Lisbon
