Luxembourg travellers described the sombre mood in Lisbon after a deadly funicular crash claimed multiple lives and left dozens wounded.

A serious accident occurred on Wednesday evening in Lisbon involving the well-known funicular Elevador da Glória. According to the latest information, 16 people lost their lives when one of the cabins derailed and fell. More than 21 others were injured, five seriously.

According to the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry,  current information suggests no Luxembourgers or residents of the country were among the dead or injured. However, Luxembourgers were present near the location of the accident. Our colleague Marc Hoscheid from RTL Luxembourg spoke with a woman about her recollection of the tragedy.

It was the first time that she and her family had spent their holiday in the Portuguese capital, with the classic tourist attractions on the programme. They had also considered taking a ride on the famous line 28E, but in the end did not, and it remained just a photo. To rest a little, they went to the beach, but it did not take long before they learned the news of the accident, as explained by Mandy Ragni, who also sits on Esch’s municipal council for the Greens.

"When we drove back to the hotel, we noticed that a large number of ambulances were driving around. One could constantly hear sirens and we did not immediately understand what had happened. And when we arrived at the hotel, my husband turned on the television where we saw on the news what had happened. We also kept hearing the sirens all the time and it is  immensely sad."

In the meantime, she has returned to Luxembourg with her family. But the short time they spent in Lisbon was enough to absorb the impact the accident had on the people.

"Wherever you went, whether on a terrace, or around town, people were only talking about it, and you could see that they were looking at the news on their phones or watching videos that had been posted on social networks."

As for the reasons behind the accident, Portuguese media reported that a cable had snapped and the carriage could no longer brake downhill –  causing it to overturn.

Ragni said she did not hear any criticism of the operator, but added that, regardless of responsibility, she could imagine Lisbon residents would not be able to keep the images of the accident out of their heads anytime soon.

The Grand Ducal Court published a message on Thursday stating that their thoughts were with the citizens of Lisbon.