An electrical streetcar that’s certainly one of Lisbon’s landmarks and an enormous draw for vacationers derailed on Wednesday (September 3, 2025), killing 15 individuals and injuring 18 others, emergency providers mentioned.
Five of the injured are in severe situation and a toddler is among the many injured, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies mentioned in an announcement. An unknown variety of the injured are foreigners, it mentioned.
Authorities referred to as it an accident, the worst within the metropolis’s current historical past.
The yellow-and-white streetcar, which fits up and down a steep downtown hill in tandem with one going the other method, was mendacity on its facet on the slender highway that it travels alongside, Portuguese tv channels confirmed.
Its sides and high had been partially crumpled and it appeared to have crashed right into a constructing the place the highway bends. Several dozen emergency staff had been on the scene however most stood down after about two hours.
Eyewitnesses advised native media that the streetcar careened down the hill, apparently uncontrolled.
Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas advised reporters on the scene that the town was in mourning. “This was a tragic accident … It’s a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen.”
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa supplied his condolence to affected households.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen additionally despatched her condolences. “It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Gloria,” she wrote in Portuguese on X.
The reason behind the accident was not instantly recognized. It reportedly occurred in the beginning of the night rush hour, round 6 p.m.
An investigation into the causes will start as soon as the rescue operation is over, the Portuguese authorities mentioned in an announcement.
The streetcar, recognized as Gloria, can carry greater than 40 individuals, seated and standing. It is usually utilized by Lisbon residents.
The streetcar, technically referred to as a funicular, is thought as Elevador da Gloria. Two streetcars run parallel to one another as they shuttle up and down the hill on a curved, traffic-free highway for just a few hundred meters.
It is classed as a nationwide monument.
Lisbon hosted round 8.5 million vacationers final yr and the streetcar is a well-liked attraction. Long traces of vacationers sometimes kind for the temporary trip on it.
