Two Canadian women on holiday in Portugal died yesterday morning when a train travelling on the Douro Line ran into them.
This was a tragedy that appears to have been prompted by the profound deafness of the women and the group they were part of.
The traumatised train driver has explained that he hooted when he saw the duo, but there was nothing he could do to stop what happened, in spite of applying brakes.
Passengers on board stress they had no idea why the train was sounding its horn so often, as they were travelling on a straight trajectory. It was only when the train came to a standstill, and they alighted onto the tracks, that they realised what the driver had been trying to avoid.
“The scene was terrible, indescribable, a tragedy”, said one.
The bodies were removed for autopsy; PJ police undertook forensic examinations – and the line was closed for several hours.
Passengers whose journey had come to such a devastating halt were eventually taken from the site in Santo André, Mesão Frio, in the early afternoon.
According to Correio da Manhã, the two women, aged 62 and 66, had been with two others, taking photographs and selfies close to the Douro River. At some point, the victims walked to the level crossing from the banks of the river – presumably to start the journey back to their nearby accommodation. It was on the level crossing that the train hit them.
This has been a catastrophic weekend for train-related deaths. Yesterday, there were fatal accidents involving people caught on the lines in both Santarém and Valença – the first incident involving a high speed ‘Alfa Pendular’ train. Both horrors caused the services in question to be halted for some hours.
