The derailment of a popular streetcar Wednesday in Portugal’s capital killed 15 people and injured 18 others, emergency services said, in what officials are calling one of the Lisbon’s worst tragedies in recent memory.
Here is what to know about the derailment:
Investigation underway
Official details about the crash were scant Wednesday evening. Authorities called the derailment an accident, and the government said an investigation into the causes would begin once the rescue operation is over.
Eyewitnesses told local media that the streetcar appeared out of control as it careened down the hill at around 6 p.m. during the evening rush hour. One witness said the streetcar toppled onto a man on a sidewalk.
The sides and top of the yellow-and-white streetcar, known as Elevador da Gloria, were partially crumpled, and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends.
Carris, the company that operates the streetcar, said scheduled maintenance had been carried out.
Fifteen people killed and several injured
The National Institute for Medical Emergencies said 15 people were killed and 18 injured. Five of the injured were in serious condition and a child was among the injured, the agency said in a statement.
An unknown number of foreigners were among the injured, it said.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his condolences to affected families, and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said the city was in mourning. “It’s a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen,” Moedas said.
National day of mourning
Portugal’s government announced that a day of national mourning would be observed on Thursday. “A tragic accident … caused the irreparable loss of human life, which left in mourning their families and dismayed the whole country,” it said in a statement.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences. “It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Gloria,” she wrote in Portuguese on X.
The streetcar service is 140 years old
The streetcar, technically called a funicular, is harnessed by steel cables and can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing. The service, up and down a hill on a curved, traffic-free road, was inaugurated in 1885.
It is classified as a national monument, and it attracts many of the millions of tourists who visit Lisbon each year. People typically wait in long lines for the brief ride.
