Lisbon: Portuguese investigators said that a snapped cable caused Wednesday’s deadly crash of Lisbon’s Glória funicular, which left 16 people dead and about 20 others injured in one of the country’s worst transport disasters in decades.
The National Transport Safety Office said an initial inspection of the wreckage confirmed that the main cable linking the railway’s two carriages had given way, though the rest of the mechanism was working properly.
“After examining the wreckage at the site, it was immediately determined that the cable connecting the two carriages had given way,” the agency said in a statement.
Investigators said the brakeman attempted to activate both pneumatic and manual brakes, but the measures failed to prevent the upper carriage from derailing and slamming into a building at an estimated 60 km/h (37 mph).
The report noted it was unclear whether an automatic brake system engaged as designed. The funicular’s steel cable, it added, was only 337 days into its projected 600-day operational lifespan.
The crash killed five Portuguese nationals along with three Britons, two South Koreans, two Canadians, an American, a Ukrainian, a Swiss, and a French national, according to police. Sixteen others were injured, with six in intensive care and three treated for minor wounds.
The 140-year-old Glória funicular, one of Lisbon’s most recognisable yellow trams, carries residents and tourists alike up the city’s steep hills. The crash has shocked Portugal, with Prime Minister Luis Montenegro calling it one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past.
Investigators stressed they had not yet reached valid conclusions about the cause of the accident. A fuller preliminary report is expected within 45 days.
