At least 15 people were killed and 18 were injured on Wednesday after a horror crash on the iconic funicular railway in Lisbon, Portugal.
Shocking video from the aftermath shows the tram-like Gloria funicular crushed and destroyed following a derailment that left at least five of the injured in serious condition, officials said.
It is not yet known how many of those hurt are foreigners, they added, as the funicular is a popular tourist attraction.
Local media reported that some of the victims included pedestrians and people in cars that were flipped after the tram broke loose. Horrified eyewitnesses said that they watched the runaway streetcar tear down the slope and land on top of a man walking down the sidewalk.
Five people were hospitalized in serious condition, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies confirmed in a statement. A child was also hospitalized, but was not critically injured.
The cause of the crash on the funicular, which carries more than 40 passengers at a time up and down a steep 900-foot hillside in the Portuguese capital, remains unknown.
An overhead cable came loose along the route, causing the car to lose control and smash into a nearby building, Portuguese newspaper Observador reported.
Some 62 emergency service personnel and 22 vehicles were scrambled to the scene of the crash, according to the civil protection website.
None of the dead have yet been identified. There were no children killed in the crash, Tiago Augusto, head of the health ministry, said in a statement obtained by the New York Times.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his condolences to all those affected.
