An “unprecedented tragedy,” according to the mayor of Lisbon. This Wednesday, September 3, at the end of the day, one of the famous funicular of the Portuguese capital was derailing on Wednesday, September 3, then flew, killing at least 15 people and 23 injured, including a three -year -old boy.
“He hit a building with a brutal force”
The scattered images of the resistant car show the scope of the drama: the funicular has been completely crushed against a wall, and many debris cover the floor. Several people who have witnessed the drama also describe the shock of this accident.
With the Portuguese chain SIC, a woman said she saw that the funicular descended “at full speed” on the steep slope where it circulates daily, before hitting the building.
“He hit a building with a brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box, he had no brakes,” he said.
Another resident describes the same scene: a funicular “without scribble” that has reached “at full speed.” “We only had time to escape,” he said with the SIC media. “I looked back and saw the impact on the turn; he hit the building very violently.”
“Uncontrollable”
Teresa d’Avó was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the accident. “It was about 1.5 meters from the end of the trip. The impact was very violent,” he explains to the newspaper of Noticias. She saw the funicular “arriving from above, uncontrollable.”
This former district resident was put in security several witnesses, for fear that the lower cabin will be highlighted and take it to other people. Then he helped the injured, including two people who complained about leg pain. “There were many people, I heard children,” he explains. She believes that the funicular was “very full” at the time of the accident.
Another witness tells Portuguese media a desolation scene. According to him, after the car crashed, “many people did not move” inside the funicular, perhaps thinking of unconscious people.
According to local media, a cable separated, causing a loss of funicular control, which hit a neighboring building. The public transport company in Lisbon Carris, operator of the Lisbon Funicular, insured after the drama of having respected “all maintenance protocols.”
The mayor of Lisbon Carlos Moedas decreed three days of municipal mourning in memory of the victims. The funicular is very borrowed by tourists, some are foreigners: at least two dead are Spanish. Among the injured, the Portuguese media also tell a South Korean and a French.
Source: BFM TV
