by Lina Ferreira
It’s published
Lisbon City Council has decided to close three more sexual cable railroads for testing after at least 15 people died when one person derailed on Wednesday.
The accident at Glória Funicular, a popular tourist attraction in the city centre, also injured more than 20 other people.
All the deaths were adults, according to Margarida Castro Martins, the director of the Civil Protection Agency in Lisbon, who refused to disclose the nationality of the victims.
The foreigners were among the 21 injured, she added, saying the injured came from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, South Korea, Spain and Portugal.
Wednesday’s tragedy, held around 6pm on Wednesday, raised concerns about the safety of other cable rail systems in Lisbon.
According to LUSA News Agency, BICA, Lavra and Graça Funiculars were hung “to carry out technical inspections.”
Like Glóriafouncular, the BICA and Lavra Cable Railways were established at the end of the 19th century, but Graça Founcular was only available last year.
Some people question whether they are properly maintained.
In an interview with RTP, Manuel Rial, head of the Transport Federation (Breeder), said:
The carriage was maintained by Lisbon’s public transport company Carris, but the maintenance work is now being carried out by an outside company.
Caris, who launched an investigation into the accident, claims that maintenance protocols and daily inspections are “good and respected.”
“The investigation is underway, and there are external organizations looking into what happened,” said Pedro de Brito Bogas, chairman of the company’s board.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, but Portuguese media suggested it occurred after the cable broke. There were also reports of brake failure.
At the time of the accident, one of the cars on the funnel had stopped, while the other was on the top of Calsada Da Gloria, where it got off the truck and crashed at high speed. **
Authorities are now trying to see exactly what happened. Over the night, several inspectors were able to see evidence gathering at the scene.
“This is an exceptional scenario, not a typical crime scene,” Joan Oliveira, director of Judicial Police in Lisbon and Tags Valley, said in a statement.
“There is no solid indicator that can refer to fundamentally criminal cases for these events,” he added.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebello de Sousa expressed hope that the cause of the derailment will be “quickly revealed by competent authorities.”
Identify the death
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 Forensic Institute hopes to complete the autopsy Thursday morning after a team of coroners from Coimbra and Porto have been called.
“Identifying the victims has great challenges because some of them are foreigners,” said Joan Oliveira, director of Judicial Police.
The city council declared a three-day municipal mourning, and Mayor Carlos Modus calls it “a tragedy that we have never seen before.”
The Portuguese government also announced the National Mourning Day to be held on Thursday.
As a result of the accident, the country’s prime minister, Louis Montenegro, cancelled its schedule on Thursday, with the exception of video conferences on the war in Ukraine.