A family has found out their father was actually among the injured parties now at São José hospital, after local reports claimed he had been killed in front of his son in a tram crash in Lisbon
A victim of the Lisbon tram crash who was initially declared dead has now been found alive.
The German dad-of-three was initially reported as having died in the accident in front of his son. His devastated family had been informed the German dad was among the dead at São José hospital, with his wife seriously injured.
The family, from Hamburg, turned up at the Institute of Forensic Medicine yesterday after they were told he was one of the 16 people killed when the iconic funicular derailed and crashed into a hotel corner building on Wednesday night in Lisbon. However, they were unable to identify his body.
A local officer then took the family to the hospital in the Portuguese capital where the injured were and he was discovered to be among them.
Police are still trying to identify three victims. Investigators have had to revise the number of fatalities twice.
Based on evidence found at the crash site, the victims could include two Canadians, an America, a German and a Ukrainian national, Luis Neves, the head of the national investigative police, said.
Lisbon’s Gloria Funicular – one of the Portuguese capital’s most famous attractions – crashed as horror footage caught onlookers yelling “there’s kids under there” at around 6pm on Wednesday evening. One of the trams was sent hurtling down one of the city’s hills before it smashed into a building and was left in pieces.
An investigation has been launched by the Portuguese public prosecutor’s office but the cause of the fatal collision is still not known.
A Portuguese brakeman who worked on the funicular – 40-year-old André Jorge Gonçalves Marques – was the first victim identified.
The railway operates two trams which run parallel to each other as one moves up the hill and the other moves down on a road with a bend. Initial reports from the disaster have suggested the funicular came loose before it crashed.
This historic funicular was opened in 1885 and each car can hold around 43 people. The Glória Funicular was electrified in 1915 and carries around three million people each year – including tourists and locals.
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