What to know about the streetcar derailment in Lisbon
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Winnipeg Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*$1 will be added to your next bill. After your 4 weeks access is complete your rate will increase by $0.00 a X percent off the regular rate.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The derailment of a streetcar that is a popular tourist attraction in Portugal’s capital killed 16 people and injured 21 others, emergency services said. Police said that 11 of those killed were foreigners.
Officials called the accident one of Lisbon’s worst tragedies in recent memory.
Here’s what to know:
Investigations underway and wreckage removed
Official details about the crash in downtown Lisbon were still scant Friday, but details were beginning to emerge about those killed in the accident.
Multiple agencies are investigating what Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has described as “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past.”
The government’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations said it would issue a preliminary technical report Friday, but it postponed that to Saturday citing a delay in official procedures.
Chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said a preliminary police report with a broader scope is expected within 45 days.
The streetcar’s wreckage was removed from the scene overnight and placed in police custody.
Witnesses told local media that the streetcar appeared out of control as it careened down a hill at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday during the evening rush hour. One witness said that 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 crumpled and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends.
Many of those killed were foreigners
The dead included five Portuguese nationals, three British citizens, two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French, one Swiss and one Ukrainian, police said.
A German man also thought to have died in Wednesday’s crash was found to be in a Lisbon hospital, police said. It didn’t provide an explanation for the error.
The list of nationalities was published following forensic identification.
Spaniards, Israelis, Portuguese, Brazilians, Italians and French people were injured, Portugal’s National Health Service said. Five remained in serious condition.
National grieving
Hundreds of people attended a somber Mass on Thursday evening at Lisbon’s majestic Church of Saint Dominic.
Montenegro, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas were among the attendees.
Lisbon was observing three days of mourning.
140 years of service
The streetcar, technically called a funicular, is harnessed by steel cables, with the descending car helping with its weight to pull up the other one. It 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. The streetcar that crashed had been in use since 1914.
It’s classified as a national monument.