In a joint press conference early this afternoon, Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas and prime minister Luís Montenegro pledged speedy investigations into the cause of last night’s funicular disaster which it now transpires has claimed 16 lives, not the 17 reported earlier this morning.
The PM stressed that later today “full details will be given of the steps that have been taken and are underway by the national director of the Judicial Police, the president of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, the government director of the National Health Service and the head of the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Air and Rail Accidents”.
“TAP has also offered to provide full support, whether in the transport of family members, nationals or foreigners who are outside our country, or to repatriate the injured and even transfer the bodies of the victims who died,” he said.
“The Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences is working tirelessly to finalise all the autopsies as quickly as possible and to ensure that the bodies are quickly handed over to the bereaved families,” the PM added.
The government is in contact with the families of the national and foreign victims, namely through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “whenever the identification of people and nationalities is confirmed”.
“This tragic accident that has affected our country transcends borders and is a pain that has no nationality,” he said, thanking all the messages of solidarity and condolences from various heads of government and state of the European Union, as well as the president of the European Council, former prime minister António Costa, and the speakers of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Early this morning, the director of the Municipal Civil Protection Service, Margarida Castro Martins, suggested the death toll had risen overnight by two further victims.
According to Martins, of the 38 people affected by the accident, 15 died on Wednesday and 23 were transported or travelled by their own means to hospitals, two of whom ended up dying during the night. It now appears perhaps only one victim died during the night.
The injured, 12 women and seven men, are of at least 10 different nationalities: four Portuguese, two Spanish, one Korean, one Cape Verdean, one Canadian, one Italian, one French, one Swiss and one Moroccan – and there are four injured whose nationalities have not yet been identified.
As for the fatalities, seven men and eight women, all adults, including foreigners, Margarida Castro Martins said that she still had no information about their nationality or age, which is the responsibility of the attorney general’s office, which will validate and publicise the information, both to the families and to the media.
She explained that the bodies have been transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where work is still underway, involving three teams.
Of the injured, seven of whom were serious (this number has since been reduced to five after one died), four travelled by their own means to São José hospital and the remaining 19 were transported to five hospitals: eight to Santa Maria, five to São José, three to São Francisco Xavier, one to Cascais hospital and two to Amadora.
Work at the scene of the accident finished around 3am this morning and traffic was allowed to reopen at that time, but the side of Avenida da Liberdade, from Travessa da Glória, remained closed.
The site of the accident, where forensic and investigation work has been underway since 8am, remains cordoned off.
Rescue operations involved 60 members of the Sapadores Firefighters Regiment, supported by 15 vehicles, and 19 ambulances were assigned to the rescue operations, including INEM ambulances and ambulances from the Voluntary Professional Firefighters of Lisbon, Pontinha, Algés and Carnaxide.
The operations were supported by members of the Municipal Police, the Public Security Police and the Lisbon Municipal Civil Protection Service.
A psychological support centre coordinated by INEM, which also included professionals from other entities, was set up near the scene to receive and provide information and psychological support to the relatives and friends of the victims who went to the scene.
The ongoing forensic and investigation work involves the Aircraft Accident and Rail Accident Prevention and Investigation Office, the Road Incident Investigation Squad of the Public Security Police’s Traffic Division, the Criminal Investigation Division, the Judicial Police, the Labour Conditions Authority, the municipal public transport operator, Carris and the Professional Firefighters Regiment.
Once the investigation work is complete, the funicular debris will be cleaned up and removed.
Contacted this morning, the Hospital de São José said it had received nine injured people on Wednesday: five seriously and four lightly. One of the seriously injured died during the night.
Among the lightly injured, a three-year-old child was admitted to the accident and emergency department, who was stable and, as a precaution, was transferred to D. Estefânia (children’s) Hospital.
The pregnant mother, admitted to the accident and emergency department with minor injuries, was transferred to the Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital.
Eight injured people were treated at Santa Maria Hospital, one of them in critical condition, according to a hospital source, adding that only three remained hospitalised this morning.
Amadora-Sintra received two injured people who have already been discharged and Cascais Hospital received one who has also been discharged, according to hospital sources.
PJ police have since set up a special line for families of the victims. The telephone number is 211 968 000, and there is also an e-mail: chefepiquetelx@pj.pt
Source: LUSA
