"LISBON, Portugal Portugal observed a national day of mourning Thursday, a day after a famous Lisbon streetcar derailed and killed 15 people in the capital's worst accident in recent history. Authorities have given no information about those killed or the 23 that police said were injured in the accident, raising the initial casualty toll. The 19th-century streetcar is one of Lisbon's big tourist attractions and is usually packed with foreigners at this time of year for its short and picturesque trip up and down one of the city's steep hills."
"Teams of pathologists at the National Forensics Institute, reinforced by colleagues from three other Portuguese cities, worked through the night on autopsies, officials said. The injured were admitted to several hospitals in the Lisbon region. The streetcar's crumpled wreckage was still on the downtown road where it crashed Thursday, cordoned off by police. Accident investigators were due at the scene. Officials declined to speculate on whether a faulty brake or a snapped cable may have caused the accident."
"The yellow-and-white streetcar, known as Elevador da Gloria, was lying on its side on the narrow road that it travels on, its sides and top crumpled. It crashed into a building where the road bends, leaving parts of the mostly metal vehicle crushed. "It hit the building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box," Teresa d'Avo told Portuguese TV channel SIC. She described the streetcar as out of control and seeming to have no brakes, and said she watched passersby run into the middle of the nearby Avenida da Liberdade, or Freedom Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare."
A 19th-century Lisbon funicular, Elevador da Gloria, derailed and crashed into a building, killing 15 people and injuring 23. Portugal observed a national day of mourning the day after the accident. Pathologists from the National Forensics Institute, supported by colleagues from three other cities, worked overnight on autopsies. The injured were treated at multiple hospitals across the Lisbon region. The wreckage remained on the downtown road, cordoned off by police, and accident investigators were due at the scene. Officials declined to speculate about causes such as faulty brakes or a snapped cable.
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