A tragic accident has shocked the heart of Lisbon today for the derailment and crash of the glory funicular, which connects the lower part of the city to the Alto Barrio, widely used by tourists as by the Lisbonsese. At least 15 people died and at least twenty were injured, five of whom were seriously confirmed official sources reported by state TV and other Lusitanian media.
The budget, however, still temporary, could further worsen. According to a first reconstruction of the firefighters, who rushed to force on the spot with ambulances and civil means of civil protection, a cable would have sold, causing the derailment and fall of one of the two elevators, when it was at the highest point of the route. Another of the hypotheses of the technicians on the origin of the accident is that the braking system of the car would not have worked. The wagon went to break against a building adjacent to the tracks near the underlying Plaza de los Restauradores, and crulked in the impact. Many passers -by who were in the area fled to the nearby Avenida de la Libertat, to save themselves, according to the numerous testimonies taken from the Portuguese media.
The mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, who spoke of “very serious accident, unprecedented”, together with the Minister of Infrastructure Miguel Pinto Luz, arrived on the spot to follow the rescue operations closely, while the extraction of the victims from the sheets is still underway. The nationality of the victims is still unknown. Sources of the Italian Embassy in Lisbon let it be in contact with the Portuguese authorities to ascertain the possible presence of compatriots between the people involved in the accident and for possible assistance.
The President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, immediately reacted with a message on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic, expressing “deep condolences”, in particular “for the dead and seriously injured”. Cordog was expressed by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and was declared national mourning. The iconic means of transport of the Lusitanian capital has a capacity of 45 people and is used by about one million users per year, both tourists and residents. The glory funicular had been declared a national monument in 2022 and is one of the old means of transport of the city that still used to go up to the Lisbon hills. Already on May 7, 2018 there had risked an accident due to a failure in the maintenance system, but there were no victims.