Sixteen people died and 21 were injured after the Glória funicular tram derailed and crashed. Photo / Getty Images
A 3-year-old German boy was pulled alive from the wreckage of a tram carriage in Lisbon after it derailed and crashed into the side of a hotel on Wednesday.
The boy’s father died in the disaster and his pregnant mother is receiving hospital treatment for her injuries.
According to the Lusa news agency, citing official medical sources, the boy suffered light injuries and is in a children’s hospital in Lisbon, while his mother has been transferred from an accident and emergency ward to a maternity clinic.
So far, 16 people have been confirmed dead, and a further 21 injured after the historic Glória funicular tram derailed on a steep hill and smashed into a building.
Emergency workers pulled people from the wreckage on Rua da Glória, which runs through the heart of Lisbon’s centre, shortly after 6pm on Wednesday.
Of the 16 victims, five were Portuguese, two were from South Korea, two Canadians and one respectively from Germany, Ukraine, Switzerland and the US. The nationalities of the other three people killed in the crash are not yet known.
Local reports said at least 11 of the injured are believed to be foreign nationals, including those from Germany, Spain, Canada, France, Cabo Verde, Italy, Switzerland, Morocco, and South Korea.
The range of nationalities reflected how big a draw the renowned 19th-century streetcar was for tourists in the Portuguese capital during the summer season.
Fabiana Pavel, president of the Bairro Alto Residents’ Association and a local in the neighbourhood, told the BBC that the tragic crash could be due to “excessive tourism”.
“The use of it in recent years is certainly inappropriate. It was used too much and the population lost the ability to use it as public transport, because it became a tourist attraction.”
André Marques, a 40-year-old father of two and the brakeman on the carriage, was the first fatality to be announced.
Describing his 15 years of work, Carris, the company that operates the streetcar, said that “he performed his duties with excellence” and was a “dedicated, kind, smiling professional always willing to contribute to the greater good”.
Reports suggested that a cable had come loose along the railway’s route.
Pictures showed the carriage lying on its side on the narrow road, its sides and top partially crumpled, having appeared to have crashed where the steep road bends.
It was initially reported that 15 people had been killed, but the death toll later rose to 16.
João Oliveira, the director of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Police, said late on Wednesday: “Unfortunately, it is possible that the death toll will increase.”
Farid Shovro, a 32-year-old from Bangladesh who works in a souvenir shop close to the scene of the crash, told how he ran to help victims in the dust from the tram carriage’s collision with a hotel wall.
Shovro told the newspaper Expresso how he saw bodies piled up or trapped in the rubble, including a woman lying on the ground with blood on her face.
“I noticed that none of the victims were calling for help. I couldn’t hear anything,” he said.
“Suddenly, a baby started crying. My friend picked it up. At that moment, we thought the child was probably an orphan. We still don’t know if it is or not.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of this incident in Lisbon and are in touch with the local authorities. We stand by to provide consular assistance if there are any affected British nationals.”
The National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said that its disaster response team had allocated additional resources to perform post-mortem examinations by Thursday morning, as they worked to confirm the identities of the victims.
Witnesses described multiple problems with the funicular system after one of the two trams made a jolting stop at the bottom of the slope.
A woman who was near the scene of the crash told the SIC news channel that the noise made by the first tram bumping against the crash barrier alerted her and others.
“We went to help people and see what was happening and then we saw that the other tram was coming down the slope out of control,” she said. “We only had time to run out of the way.”
The woman said that the runaway tram derailed at a curve just before the end of the downward route, smashing into the street wall.
“Sadly, I saw there was a man on the pavement at the precise point where the tram smashed into the building,” she said.
Another witness told SIC that the funicular hit a building as it sped down the steep street “at full speed”.
“It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” the woman said.
Firefighters rushed to the scene shortly after 6pm and were seen pulling trapped passengers from the wreckage.
The Lisbon city council ordered the suspension of the Bica, Lavra and Graça funiculars, which are all operated by the publicly owned Carris, as an investigation into the cause of the crash commenced.
All of the funiculars would undergo additional safety checks, Publico newspaper reported.
Luís Montenegro, Portugal’s Prime Minister, said that the accident was “one of the biggest human tragedies in the recent history of the country”.
Montenegro asked all the authorities involved to work as quickly as possible to uncover the cause of the crash, and said his Government was in touch with the embassies of the various countries with victims.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of Portugal, declared Thursday a national day of mourning.
“The President of the Republic deeply regrets the accident that occurred this afternoon with the Glória funicular in Lisbon, particularly the fatalities and serious injuries, as well as the numerous minor injuries,” Rebelo de Sousa said in a statement.
The President offered “his condolences and solidarity with the families affected by this tragedy and hopes that the cause of the incident will quickly be clarified by the relevant authorities”.
“Lisbon is in mourning,” said Carlos Moedas, Lisbon’s Mayor, who travelled to the scene.
“It’s a tragedy that has never happened before in our city. Now is the time for action and help. I thank everyone for their response in just a few minutes. The only thing I can say is that it’s a very tragic day.”
The railway connects Lisbon’s Pombaline downtown with the central Bairro Alto district.
The streetcar, known as Glória, can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing. It is commonly used by Lisbon residents and tourists alike.
Opened in 1885, the streetcar, one of Lisbon’s main tourist attractions, which is classified as a national monument, transports more than three million passengers every year.
Its two cars are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors.
The two streetcars run parallel to each other as they shuttle up and down the hill on a curved, traffic-free road, which is about 265m long.
Speaking to reporters at the scene of the crash, Pedro Bogas, president of Carris, offered his condolences to the families of the victims and assured the public that the company had followed its standard maintenance procedures.
“Maintenance has been performed by the same company for 14 years,” Bogas said. “I want to say that Carris places great importance on safety.”
But the cable breakage has raised doubts over the maintenance of the elevator. It has emerged that the outsourced maintenance contract ended at the end of August, days before the accident.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, sent her condolences.
“It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Glória,” she wrote in Portuguese on X.
Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament President, said: “Our hearts go out to the people affected by the Elevador da Glória tragedy, a landmark for Lisbon residents and visitors from around the world.”
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