Residents of Lisbon are demanding answers after a streetcar crash on Wednesday evening killed 16 people and injured 21. The accident occurred when a tram on the Elevador da Glória funicular derailed and crashed into a building on Avenida da Liberdade, the city's main artery. Witnesses described scenes of chaos and devastation.
António Azevedo, a tuk-tuk driver, heard what sounded like glass breaking and saw smoke rising from the lower station. He and other locals rushed to help, finding a mountain of bodies. 'There was a mountain of bodies that were not asking for help. They no longer moved; some were torn apart,' he said. Another rescuer, Mohammad Farid, added: 'No one was asking for help because they were dead. They were dead in seconds.'
The victims included Portuguese citizens as well as tourists from Canada, Cape Verde, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland. Prosecutors confirmed five Portuguese, two Koreans and one Swiss national among the dead. The Portuguese government declared a national day of mourning, and flowers and candles were placed at the scene.
Local residents questioned the safety of the historic funicular, which has seen increased use as Lisbon's tourism booms. Argentina Pereira, 80, who used the tram in the 1970s, said capacity had risen from 20 to over 40 passengers, and called for more frequent inspections. Azevedo echoed this, saying: 'This is old infrastructure, and someone needs to answer for what happened.'
Carris, the municipal transport company, stated that all maintenance protocols were followed, including daily inspections. However, some tourists expressed concerns. John Heron, an Australian visitor, said the trams looked 'dodgy' and 'very unsafe'. He added: 'Lucky we ended up staying at the hotel yesterday afternoon, or who knows if we would have ended up deciding to take the ride.'
