The first report into the causes of the deadly derailment of a popular Portuguese streetcar said on Saturday that a cable connecting the two cabins essentially snapped.
Wednesday’s crash left 16 dead and injured 21 others. Officials called it one of Lisbon’s worst tragedies in recent memory.
Three Britons were among the dead, alongside five Portuguese, two Koreans and one Swiss.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (L), Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas (R) and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro visit a makeshift memorial for the victims. (Picture: Ana Brigada/AP)The streetcar’s brake operator, André Jorge Gonçalves Marques, was the first to be identified as a victim by Portuguese media. His employer, transport company Sitra, confirmed his death.
A three-year-old German boy was among the injured.
The report by Portugal’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations said the two cabins had travelled about 20 feet when they suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the connecting cable.
The yellow-and-white streetcar is known as Elevador da Gloria and goes up and down a steep hill. The cabin at the top sped downward.
“The cabin’s brakeman immediately applied the pneumatic brake and the hand brake to try to halt the movement,” the report said. “These actions had no effect in stopping or reducing the cabin’s speed, and it continued accelerating down the slope.”
Examining the wreckage at the site, it was “immediately clear that the connecting cable had given way” at the attachment point to the cabin that was at the top of the hill, the report said.
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 exact number of passengers in each vehicle at the time has not yet been determined, the report said.
A final report containing the facts, analysis and conclusions regarding the causes of the accident is expected to be published within a year.
With AP
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