Probe on after 16 die in cable car crash in Portugal

The Portuguese authorities were investigating on Sept. 4 what caused a funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill and derail, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building.

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LISBON - The Portuguese authorities were investigating on Sept. 4 what caused a funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill and derail, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building.

The mangled wreckage of a yellow tram-like carriage, which carries people up and down a steep hillside in the Portuguese capital, lay where it had left the track and hit a building, just meters from its twin at the bottom of the steep 265m slope. The traction cable linking them had snapped.

Lisbon resident Abel Esteves, 75, and his wife and grandson were among 40 passengers in the lower car who saw the carriage plunge towards them before derailing at the last second.

"When I saw another carriage coming down, I told my wife: 'We're all going to die here,'" he said. "It picked up a brutal speed, took a slight turn and hit the building with a loud bang."