{"id":42581,"date":"2025-09-04T07:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/42581\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T07:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T07:34:07","slug":"day-of-mourning-declared-in-portugal-after-15-people-die-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/42581\/","title":{"rendered":"day of mourning declared in Portugal after 15 people die \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal<\/a> after at least 15 people were killed when Lisbon\u2019s well-known Gloria funicular railway car derailed and crashed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

An emergency services spokesperson said some foreign nationals were among the dead but would not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities. At least 18 people, including a child, were injured, five of them seriously.<\/p>\n

Public prosecutors have opened an investigation into the cause of the disaster.<\/p>\n

Footage showed the wreckage of the yellow and white car \u2013 which is known as Elevador da Gl\u00f3ria and goes up and down a steep hill in central Lisbon in tandem with one going the opposite way \u2013 lying on its side in the narrow street it traverses.<\/p>\n

Its sides and top were crumpled, and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends. Parts of the vehicle, made mostly of metal, were crushed.<\/p>\n

\"AA view of the Gl\u00f3ria funicular railway derailment, which leads to the Bairro Alto neighbourhood in Lisbon. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Witnesses told local media that the streetcar careened down the hill, apparently out of control. \u201cIt hit the building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box,\u201d Teresa d\u2019Av\u00f3 told Portuguese TV channel SIC.<\/p>\n

One witness said the streetcar toppled on to a man on the pavement.<\/p>\n

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. It reportedly occurred at the start of the evening rush hour, at about 6pm. Emergency officials said all victims were pulled out of the wreckage in just over two hours.<\/p>\n

SITRA, a trade union, wrote in a post on social media that one of its members had died in the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tragic day for our city \u2026 Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident,\u201d Carlos Moedas, the mayor of the Portuguese capital, told reporters.<\/p>\n

\"OnlookersOnlookers stand behind the police line at Pra\u00e7a Restauradores square in Lisbon. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Portugal\u2019s government declared that Thursday would be a day of national mourning. A statement from the office of prime minister Luis Montenegro said the tragedy \u201chas brought grief to \u2026 families and dismay to the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Police investigators were inspecting the site and the prosecutor general\u2019s office said it would open a formal investigation, as is customary in public transport incidents.<\/p>\n

In a statement the president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, lamented the crash and expressed hope that authorities would soon establish the cause.<\/p>\n

The line, which opened in 1885 and is classified as a national monument, connects the central Lisbon area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter), known for its vibrant nightlife.<\/p>\n

It is one of three funicular lines operated by the municipal public transport company Carris and is used by tourists as well as residents.<\/p>\n

Carris said in a statement that \u201call maintenance protocols have been carried out\u201d, including monthly and weekly maintenance programmes and daily inspections.<\/p>\n

Lisbon\u2019s city council suspended operations of other streetcars in the city and ordered immediate inspections, local media reported.<\/p>\n

The Gloria line transports about three million people annually, according to the town hall.<\/p>\n

Its two cars, each capable of carrying about 40 people, are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable with traction provided by electric motors on the cars.<\/p>\n

The car at the bottom of the line was apparently undamaged, but video from bystanders broadcast by CNN Portugal showed it jolting violently when the other one derailed and several passengers jumping out of its windows and people shouting.<\/p>\n

\"FireFire engines at the scene. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> posted on X that \u201cit is with sadness that I learned of the derailment \u2026 My condolences to the families of the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez wrote on X that he was \u201cappalled by the terrible accident\u201d, while Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani wrote that he had met the Portuguese foreign minister and expressed his \u201csolidarity with the victims\u201d.<\/p>\n

Portugal, and Lisbon in particular, has experienced a tourism boom in the past decade, with visitors cramming into the popular downtown area in the summer months.<\/p>\n

\"PedroPedro Gon\u00e7alo de Brito Aleixo Bogas, the president of public transport carrier Carris, talks to journalists near the derailment site. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Simon Harris<\/a>, the T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the reports. \u201cThis is a terrible day for the city and my thoughts, and those of people across Ireland, are with the families of people who have lost their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s embassy in Lisbon is ready to provide assistance, he said.<\/p>\n

More than 800,000 Irish people travel to Portugal each year, with 4,000 expatriates living in the country, according to Department of Foreign Affairs data. \u2013Guardian\/agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day of national mourning has been declared in Portugal after at least 15 people were killed when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,6642,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-42581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-portugal","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}