Lisbon crash probed

PORTUGUESE officials were yesterday focusing on establishing the causes of the crash of a Lisbon funicular that killed 16 people and injured 21, five of them serious!

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“The city needs answers,” Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas said in a televised statement after Wednesday's derailment.

The city centre streetcar, which is known as Elevador da Gloria and is a major attraction for tourists packing the Portuguese capital during the summer season, came off the rails during the evening rush hour.

The crumpled wreckage was cordoned off as investigators sifted through the wreckage, took photographs and pulled up a metal cable from beneath the rails that climb one of Lisbon’s steep hills.

Police, public prosecutors and government transport experts were investigating the causes, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said, standing next to the mayor.