Portugal’s government declared a day of national mourning on Thursday, a day after a vintage Lisbon funicular that is a popular tourist attraction crashed and killed 17 people.
The victims included passengers with both Portuguese and foreign surnames, local authorities said, though their nationalities were not clear. They added that at least 20 other people were injured in the crash. The vehicle lost control as it was traveling down a steep hill in the center of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, early Wednesday evening.
Although some local news outlets initially reported that a cable had most likely come loose, citing firefighters, other authorities have not confirmed the cause of the accident, and they have opened investigations.
The ride on the funicular, called the Elevador da Glória, typically lasts only a few minutes. The accident happened just after 6 p.m., as a yellow carriage of the funicular hurtled into a building.
Rescuers rushed to the crash site, a cobblestone street lined with street art and pastel buildings, and took the victims to local hospitals. Among the dead was the driver, André Jorge Gonçalves Marques, the Portuguese transport workers’ union said in a Facebook post.
The Elevador da Glória is one of hilly Lisbon’s most popular tourist attractions, and visitors usually wait in long lines to board it. There are two vehicles on the line, and each can carry about 40 people.
The Portuguese institute of forensic medicine was performing autopsies overnight. The institute’s director, Francisco Corte Real, told local reporters on Wednesday that it planned to identify all the victims by Thursday morning so that families could be informed.
As the authorities searched for the cause of the accident, the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, ordered the suspension of operations at the city’s other funiculars, including the popular Elevador da Bica. He also requested technical inspections of all funicular equipment.
The public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the crash, as is typically the case when major accidents happen, the attorney general’s office told Lusa, the Portuguese national news agency.
Carris, the Lisbon public transport company, said in a statement that all maintenance protocols had been followed. It said that general maintenance, which is scheduled to take place every four years, was last performed in 2022 and that an interim checkup was done in 2024. The company added that weekly and daily inspections had been performed.
Carris said that it had also immediately opened an investigation into what happened.
Tiago Carrasco and Daniela Ferreira Pinto contributed reporting from Lisbon.
Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome.
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