A cable connecting two carriages snapped before Wednesday’s derailment of a Lisbon funicular, which left 16 dead, initial findings of a government investigation showed.
“From the on-site study ot the wreckage, it was immediately clear that the cable connecting the two cabins had given way at its attachment point,” according to a report released on Saturday by Portugal’s authority in charge of railway and air traffic incidents.
The cable used had been in place for less than a year and was not supposed to be replaced for another 263 days, the report said.
Investigators added that the brakeman of one of the carriages applied the brakes, but that this didn’t have sufficient capacity to prevent the disaster.
Both carriages had travelled only six meters after leaving their stations on Wednesday, around 6 p.m., when the cable connecting them snapped, the report said.
Sixteen people died in Wednesday’s crash, among them 11 foreigners: five Portuguese, two South Koreans, one Swiss, three Brits, two Canadians, one Ukrainian, one American and one French.
Lisbon is holding local elections next month, with incumbent Carlos Moedas, a former European Commissioner, seeking a second term.
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