🚨 BOMBSHELL REVEAL: LISBON FUNICULAR TRAGEDY MYSTERY SOLVED—THEY KNOW WHO DID THIS! 🚨
A chilling truth has just been uncovered in the heart of Lisbon! Investigators have cracked the case of the horrific Glória funicular crash that claimed 16 lives, and their findings point to a shocking culprit behind the disaster. 😱 Who’s responsible for turning this iconic ride into a deadly nightmare? What did they do to cause such heartbreak? Click the link to dive into the jaw-dropping details that will leave you speechless! 👇
Portuguese authorities have declared three days of mourning after Lisbon’s iconic Gloria funicular crashed, killing 16 people and injuring 22.
One of the carriages on the railway derailed and crashed during evening rush hour on Wednesday.
Emergency services arrived at the scene within minutes to rescue people from the remains of the carriage, which was largely full of foreign tourists.
Of the 16 fatalities, five were Portuguese, three were British, two Korean, and one Swiss. The identities of the others have not been made public yet.
Here is what we know so far.
What happened?
The Gloria funicular, a national monument hugely popular with tourists, was operating as usual between Restauradores Square in downtown Lisbon and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood on Wednesday evening.
The journey is just 265m (870ft) and takes three minutes but operates up a steep hill, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions.
At around 6pm, the top car reportedly hurtled down the hill before leaving the tracks and crashing into a building 30m (98ft) from the bottom of the line.
The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon’s Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint
The wreckage of one of the two carriages of the Gloria funicular. Pic: AP
The remains of the funicular carriage that derailed. Pic: Reuters
According to the people who were in the bottom carriage, a few metres into their ascent, it started going backwards. When they saw the other car speeding towards them, they jumped through the windows to escape.
Swiss tourist Rasha Abdul told Sky’s Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall her husband escaped first, allowing her to pass their three-year-old son to him before she got out and the top car crashed just metres from them.
“We were afraid it would crash with us – the fact that it crashed there [on the corner] rescued us,” she said. “When I went out, everything was dusty and blurry.”
What caused it to derail?
It is not clear what caused the funicular to malfunction and derail.
The Portuguese government office for air and rail accident investigations said it has completed its analysis of the crash site and will release a preliminary report on Friday.
The New York Times reported the Lisbon Firefighters Regiment saying it happened as a result of a “cable that came loose”. But officials have refused to be drawn on witness speculation that the funicular’s brakes were faulty.
Emergency services work at the scene on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
The leader of the Fectrans union claims workers had expressed concerns about problems with the railway’s haulage cable tension that made braking difficult.
According to Carris, the company that operates it, appropriate scheduled maintenance had been carried out.
Engineer Dave Cooper told Sky News local investigators need to establish why the two carriages “parted company”.
“The very fact that you can see both cars in the same news shot tells you there’s something wrong because while one is at the bottom, the other should be at the top,” the chairman of the British Standards Committee for Cableways told presenter Gareth Barlow.
He said the two cars may have become detached because of a fault with the cables or the point they connect to the carriages.
The situation will have likely been made worse by the fact that the carriage was at full capacity – weighing up to 14 tonnes in total, Mr Cooper added.
The second carriage is lifted from the crash site to be removed overnight on Thursday. Pic: Reuters
The funicular tracks empty after both carriages were removed overnight on Thursday. Pic: AP
Who are the victims?
On Thursday, Portugal’s civil protection authority said 16 people died in the crash and 22 were injured.
All of those killed were adults – eight women and seven men, with all but one declared dead at the scene. The details of the final victim who died of their injuries in hospital on Thursday morning have not been revealed.
Five of the people killed were Portuguese, including four who worked for the country’s largest charity, Misericordia de Lisboa Santa Casa, whose offices are near the funicular.
Three of the other victims were British, two were Korean, and one was Swiss, police have said.
Although not confirmed, there is a “high possibility” two Canadians, one American, one German, and one Ukrainian are also among the dead, based on recovered identity documents, the head of Portugal’s national investigative police Luis Neves said.
Originally, 17 people were reported dead but this was revised down on Thursday afternoon after officials identified they had duplicated the case of the victim who died in hospital.
Only one of the victims has been named so far – Andre Marques – the brakeman on duty, who transport workers’ union SITRA said died on Wednesday.
The crashed carriage on its side at the scene on Thursday morning. Pic: Reuters
A poster attached to one of the funicular carriages warns the transport system is out of service. Pic: Reuters
Flowers for the victims at the foot of the hill where the funicular is in downtown Lisbon on Friday. Pic: AP
Those injured include 12 women and seven men between the ages of 25 and 65 and a three-year-old child, the Civil Protection authority said.
The nationalities of 15 of them have been revealed and include three people from Portugal, two from Germany, one from Spain, one from South Korea, one from Cape Verde, one from Canada, one from Italy, one from France, one from Switzerland, and one from Morocco.
According to CNN Portugal, the two from Germany were the three-year-old boy and his mother, who were both pulled from the wreckage.
