A tragic derailment of the Gloria Funicular in the heart of Lisbon has resulted in 17 fatalities and 21 injuries, according to the latest briefing from the city’s Civil Protection authority. The incident, which occurred yesterday, involved a cable car that connects the city’s lower streets to the Barrio Alto district, a popular route for tourists and residents alike.
The victims include 11 foreigners. Among the injured is a single Italian national, identified by the newspaper Il Centro as researcher Stefania Lepidi from L’Aquila. The Italian Embassy confirmed she was a passenger in the rear car, immediately behind the one that derailed and crashed. Lepidi sustained minor injuries after being struck by falling passengers from the impact; her son, who was with her, escaped unharmed.
In a telephone conversation with Fabio Florindo, president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Lepidi described the scene. “I’m okay but I’m in shock from what I saw: I was on the ground lying in blood and I saw the rescuers pulling out the bodies,” she recounted, as relayed by Florindo to the ANSA news agency. He added that she suffered a compound fracture to her arm but that the “worst part was the entire, dramatic experience.” Lepidi was in Lisbon for a conference and is scheduled to return to Italy as planned.
One of the deceased is believed to be the vehicle’s driver. The injured also include a child and his pregnant mother, both of whom fortunately sustained light wounds. A Lisbon fire commander reported identifying many foreign names among the victims, but detailed nationalities are not yet fully confirmed.
Preliminary investigations by firefighters suggest a cable may have snapped, causing the derailment at the highest point of the route. Another technical hypothesis points to a failure of the carriage’s braking system. The car derailed and crashed into a building adjacent to the tracks near Plaza de los Restauradores, crumpling on impact. Many bystanders in the area fled to the nearby Avenida de la Liberdade for safety.
Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas described the event as an “extremely serious, unprecedented incident.” Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his “deep sorrow,” particularly “for the dead and seriously injured.” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro also conveyed his condolences, and a period of national mourning has been declared.
The iconic funicular, declared a national monument in 2022, has a capacity of 45 people and is used by approximately one million people annually. Questions about its maintenance are now emerging. Portuguese media report that a recent tender for the maintenance of the Elevador da Glória was canceled days ago by Carris, the public transport company, because all bids exceeded the budget. A union representative had previously raised concerns about the state of maintenance, which for 14 years has been outsourced to a private company.
In a statement, Carris board president Pedro Bogas asserted that the company had “scrupulously respected all protocols,” citing four-yearly, interim, monthly, and weekly inspections. Despite this, he announced the opening of an internal inquiry into the disaster. The funicular, which was electrified in 1915, had a prior incident in 2018 due to a maintenance system fault, though no casualties were reported at that time.