Police from Portugal reported on Friday, 5, that 11 of the 16 people killed in the derailment of the Glory Elevator in Lisbon were foreign. The initial report on the causes of the accident should still be released later this Friday.
Among the victims were five Portuguese, three British, two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one Frenchman, a Swiss and a Ukrainian, police reported. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) of Brazil confirmed on Thursday (4) that three Brazilians were injured in the accident. According to Itamaraty, two of them have been discharged and a woman is still hospitalized.
A German was even included among the dead, but was found in a hospital in Lisbon, according to police. No explanation has been given to the mistake. The list of nationalities was released after forensic identification.
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The popular Glory Elevator, classified as a national monument, was packed with local residents and international tourists early Wednesday night, 3, when he left the tracks. In all, 16 people died and another 21 were injured.
Several agencies investigate the case, classified by the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, as “one of the greatest tragedies of our recent past.”
The Air and Railway Accident Investigation Office said it has completed the analysis of the wreckage and will disclose a preliminary technical report later this Friday. It is not clear, however, how much this document will reveal.
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Police chief investigator Nelson Oliveira said a preliminary report of the corporation, with broader scope, should be presented within 45 days. The wreckage of the tram were removed from the scene during the night of Thursday, 4, and are in the custody of the police.
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Tragedy beyond borders
A woman with Franco-Canadian citizenship is among the dead, said the French Foreign Ministry on Friday.
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The Transport Workers Union (Sitra) reported that the tram Guard, André Marques, is also among the perishing victims. Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a traditional Portuguese charity institution whose main headquarters in Lisbon is at the top of the hill where the tram pass, said four of its employees died.
Spanish, Israelis, Portuguese, Brazilians, Italians and French are among the injured, according to the executive director of the National Health Service of Portugal, Álvaro Santos.
“This tragedy (…) goes beyond our borders,” said the prime minister in televised speech from his official residence. Lisbon received about 8.5 million tourists last year, and long lines usually form for the short trip of tram that travels a few hundred meters up and down a city street. It was decreed day of national mourning this Thursday.
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Also on the night of Thursday, hundreds of people attended a solemn mass in the majestic church of São Domingos, in Lisbon. The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the mayor of the capital, Carlos Coins, and Montenegro were among the gifts – many dressed in black – in the sanctuated sanctuary.
Daily inspections
The elevator of glory – also known as the lift of glory or funicular – is arrested by wire ropes and can carry more than 40 people. Authorities refused to comment whether a brake failure or the rupture of a cable would have caused the vehicle to collision against a building at the time of the descent, in a curve of a steep street in downtown Lisbon.
“The city needs answers,” the mayor said, adding that speculation about possible causes are still “mere assumptions.”
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In addition to investigations conducted by the police, the prosecutor and by federal government transport specialists, the company responsible for the trams and buses in Lisbon, Carris, said it also opened an internal investigation.
In operation since 1914, the tram underwent a complete maintenance program last year. According to Carris CEO Pedro de Brito Bogas, the company performed a 30 -minute visual inspection daily.
He added that the last check occurred about nine hours before the derailment. However, it did not detailed what the inspection consisted, nor did it answer if all the cables had been tested.
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The Lisbon City Council suspended the operations of three other funicular trams until the completion of immediate inspections.
Tourists are shaken
British tourist Felicity Ferriter, 70, said she was undoing her suitcase in a nearby hotel when she heard “a horrible noise.” She had seen the tram when she arrived and intended to walk on him the next day.
“It would be one of the highlights of our vacation,” she said, adding that “it could have been us.”
Italian tourist Francesca Di Bello, 23, who is on vacation with the family, had been in the glory elevator a few hours before derailment.
They passed the scene of the accident on Thursday, expressing shock with the wreckage. Asked if he would return to Funicular in Portugal or elsewhere, Di Bello was emphatic: “Definitely not.” (With information from Associated Press)
