Lisbon awoke Thursday to a city draped in grief. Bouquets and handwritten notes lined the cobbled street where the Gloria funicular, a century-old emblem of the capital, jumped its tracks the night before and slammed into a building, leaving 16 dead and dozens wounded.
Officials confirmed that the dead include both locals and foreign visitors. Five Portuguese citizens were identified, alongside two South Koreans and a Swiss national. Investigators said they were “highly confident” that two Canadians, a German, a Ukrainian, and an American were also among those killed, based on documents and witness accounts.
Emergency services said 15 people died on the spot; another succumbed to injuries in the hospital. Five survivors remain in critical condition. Among the injured are at least 11 foreigners, including travelers from Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Canada, Morocco, South Korea, Switzerland, and Cape Verde.
“This is a tragedy our city has never seen,” Mayor Carlos Moedas told reporters, his voice breaking. Around him, investigators in fluorescent vests combed through wreckage still pressed against a wall, its bright yellow frame crumpled like paper.
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Eyewitnesses described sheer chaos. One woman, shaken but unhurt, recalled that the funicular — packed with tourists — “hit the building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box.”
The funicular, which can carry about 40 passengers up one of Lisbon’s steepest hills, has long been a magnet for sightseers. Operated by Carris, the city’s transit authority, it had undergone regular maintenance, officials said. “Everything was scrupulously respected,” Pedro Bogas, Carris’s chief executive, insisted. He noted the line was serviced in 2022, with follow-up work last year.
Still, prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the cause of the derailment, and Lisbon has suspended its three other funiculars pending inspections.
By midday, the crash site had transformed into a place of mourning. Tourists and locals alike placed flowers at the police cordon. Parents clutched children’s hands a little tighter. And in the hush of the historic neighborhood, the clatter of Lisbon’s surviving trams felt suddenly somber.