Alcafache railway disaster
Portugal also has a September 11th. On this day, 40 years ago, more than 40 and less than 200 people died in Alcafache. An uncertain number of victims, which will never be sure.
On the day September 11, 1985In a late afternoon they shocked frontally on the Beira Alta line, between Mangualde and in them, a SUD-Express bound for Paris packed with emigrants and a regional that went to Coimbra.
The exact number of victims resulting from the front shock has never been determined. Estimates made at the time by newspapers, eye observers and other sources varied between 40 and 200 dead.
Many bodies were charred and were never identified. These remains were placed in an open ditch on the spot.
José Augusto Sá lost his father and sisterin this rail disaster, whose bodies will have been charred and They were never found.
The stepmother and brother survived. Thrilled, he recalls, who for weeks sought between survivors and dead. He moved and rummaged into the hands of the corpses, on the spot, to see if he identified his father, who had one finger.
“I ran everything with my car. I walked a week in mortuary houses, from Lisbon to Porto. I saw charred bodies and fired their hands. It was the only thing I could identify if a hand didn’t have a finger,” he said.
“[Os corpos do pai e da irmã] They are here, ”he says, pointing to the ordinary ditchwhere most victims of the accident were buried.
Without Campas where to move to “talk” to family members, every year lives with intensity the ceremony of honoring the victims of Alcafache.
José Augusto Sá recalled that the accident was due to human error and that the South-Express transported “more than 400 emigrants” From the districts of Viseu, Coimbra, Aveiro, Viana, Braga and Vila Real, who returned to their host country after vacation in Portugal.
This Sunday, next to the place where an uncertain number of victims was buried, will be inaugurated a chapel in honor of the emigrants.
For several years there has been a memorial of honor of the victims and, in recent months, have been made works that gave “more dignity” to the placetold Lusa José Augusto Sá, who leads the commission that has organized the annual honors since 2002.
“A chapel will be inaugurated, with the image of Our Lady of Emigrants,” said Augusto Sá, explaining that it is an image inspired by the image of Our Lady of Navegantes, but that instead of the bow of a boat, she has a sphere to symbolize the globe.
The chapel was built on the side of the existing memorial and will allow the necessary collection for prayers by the victims.
On site, a toponymic plate was also installed with the inscription “Travessa of September 11, 1985 – rail tragedy” and the floor has long applied.
“With a lot of feelings to the mixture, this year I have to clap,” he said.
Augusto Sá said that he also asked the CP to be placed on the spot “a Carriage to symbolize what happened in Alcafache”But this was not possible to meet its size and the costs it would imply.
“The CP conceived a prototype of a bodywork, which rests on the carriage and weighs seven tons. Everything points out that on Sunday is already placed there,” he said.
In the future, he added, there will also be, in the place, information that allows to perceive the size of the tragedy.
“A person without memory, is a country with no future”he said, to antenna 1.
According to Augusto Sá, the presence of the General Ramalho Eaneswho was President of the Republic in 1985, the Secretary of State for Communities, Presidents and Representatives of Fire Department and other entities.
