LISBON, Portugal — A national day of mourning began in Portugal on Thursday as the death toll rose to 16 after a popular funicular railway derailed in Lisbon.

At least 21 people were injured in the capital’s worst accident in recent history.

A U.S. citizen was among those killed, the State Department confirmed in a statement Thursday.

“Our staff in Lisbon and here in the United States are working tirelessly to provide consular assistance to the victim and their family,” a State Department spokesperson said. “The embassy is working closely with local authorities to assist U.S. citizens in the affected area, and continues to monitor the situation closely. We extend our condolences to the victims and families of all those affected.”

The State Department declined to provide any additional details, citing privacy considerations.

Cordoned off by police, the crumpled wreckage of the yellow-and-white streetcar known as Elevador da Glória was still on the road early Thursday, lying on its side next to a building it crashed into.

As a result, parts of the mostly metal vehicle were crushed, and its top and a side were crumpled.

Becky Britton, of Minnesota, was vacationing in the city with her husband, Jeff, when she walked past the scene.

She said that she initially thought someone had been shot but that “as we got closer, we got to the carnage. … We saw some victims come out; one person was being resuscitated.”

“I feel sad, and when you’re here it’s real. If it happened to us, our families, we would have been notified and that’s just devastating,” she added.

Emergency services at the scene after the Glória funicular cable railway derailed in Lisbon on Wednesday night. Zed Jameson / Anadolu via Getty Images

As investigators continued to work out what caused the accident, officials declined to speculate on whether a damaged brake or a snapped cable may have been at fault.

Having initially suggested 17 people had died, Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency later revised the number to 16.

Homicide investigators were among those probing the crash, said a spokesperson for the Polícia Judiciária, Portugal’s judiciary police.

Teams of pathologists from the National Forensics Institute, assisted by colleagues from three other Portuguese cities, also worked through the night on autopsies, officials told The Associated Press. The injured were admitted to several hospitals in the region.

After the government announced a national day of mourning, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa canceled a trip to a book festival and said in a statement that he offered his “solidarity to the families affected from this great tragedy.”

Calling the accident “a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen,” Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said the city was in mourning.

Classified as a national monument, the Elevador da Glória funicular connected Restauradores Square to the Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântara, a popular garden in the Bairro Alto neighborhood.

Inaugurated in 1885, the service goes up and down a few hundred yards of a hill on a curved, traffic-free road in tandem with one going the opposite way. It is a popular attraction with Lisbon’s tourists, and long lines of people typically form for the brief rides.

Harnessed by steel cables, it can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing, and it is also commonly used by Lisbon residents.

Among the injured were two German and two Spanish nationals, as well as a Korean, a Cape Verdean and a Russian, said Margarida Castro Martins, the head of Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency. A Canadian and an Italian were also hurt in the crash, along with a Swiss national, she said.

“Of the victims, we have identified seven men and eight women, all adults, including foreign nationalities. We do not yet have information on the age or nationality of these victims,” she said.

The City Council halted operations of three other famous funicular streetcars in the city while immediate inspections were carried out.

Alexandre Rodrigues, the commander of the Lisbon fire brigade, told reporters Wednesday that authorities were alerted about the derailment at 6:01 p.m. local time (12:01 p.m. ET) and arrived within three minutes. The funicular derailed and crashed into a building, he said.

Mohammed Farid, 35, was nearby when he heard the loud crash and ran to the scene with a friend.

“We saw there is many dead bodies. Like six, seven dead bodies we can see from the, you know, from the situation at that time because the tram body is nearly smashed,” he said in an interview.

He added, “In that time, like, you know, we tried to help. Is anybody alive, or all are dead? There is silence. Nobody is seeking help.”

Emergency officials said all victims were pulled out of the wreckage in just over two hours.

Carris, the company that operates the streetcar, said in a statement Wednesday that “all maintenance protocols were carried out and complied with” and that the last repairs were done last year.

But Manuel Leal, the head of the Federation of Transport and Communications Workers’ Unions and the Union of Road and Urban Transport Workers of Portugal, said Wednesday that Carris workers had made “repeated complaints” about the need for maintenance on the funicular carriages, according to the Portuguese state news agency Lusa.

“There must be an investigation into the root causes of this accident, not least because workers have been reporting for a long time that the maintenance of these carriages should be the responsibility of Carris workers and not outsourced to external companies, as is the case with the Glória lift,” he said.

Carolina Bastos Pereira reported from Lisbon and Babak Dehghanpisheh from New York.

By The Associated Press

The derailment of a popular streetcar in Portugal’s capital killed 16 people and injured 21 others, emergency services said, in what officials are calling one of Lisbon’s worst tragedies in recent memory.

Members of the judicial police work at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Emergency teams work at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Emergency teams work at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Emergency teams work at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Firefighters carrying the body of a person on a stretcher at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) Show Caption 1 of 5 Members of the judicial police work at the site of a derailed electric streetcar in Lisbon, Portugal, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca) Expand

Here’s what to know:

Investigations underway

Official details about the crash in downtown Lisbon were still scant Thursday morning. Authorities called the derailment on Wednesday an accident, and the government said that various official investigations were underway.

“The city needs answers,” Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said.

Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency said early Thursday the death toll had risen to 17. It later corrected that to 16, saying there was a lapse because of the duplication of available information.

Witnesses told local media that the streetcar appeared out of control as it careened down a hill at around 6 p.m. during the evening rush hour. One witness said that the streetcar toppled onto a man on a sidewalk.

The sides and top of the yellow-and-white streetcar, known as Elevador da Gloria, were crumpled and it appeared to have crashed into a building where the road bends.

Carris, the company that operates the streetcar, said that scheduled maintenance had been carried out.

Officials declined to speculate on whether a faulty brake or a snapped cable may have caused the derailment.

Death toll rises

Officials didn’t provide the names or nationalities of the dead, saying that their families would be informed first.

Another 21 people were injured in the crash, authorities said. They included Portuguese nationals as well as two Germans, two Spaniards and one person each from France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Morocco, South Korea and Cape Verde.

“It’s a tragedy of the like we’ve never seen,” Moedas said.

“This tragedy … goes beyond our borders,” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said.

National grieving

Portugal was observing a day of national mourning on Thursday.

“A tragic accident … caused the irreparable loss of human life, which left in mourning their families and dismayed the whole country,” the government said in a statement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent her condolences.

“It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Gloria,” she wrote in Portuguese on X.

140 years of service

The streetcar, technically called a funicular, is harnessed by steel cables, with the descending car helping with its weight to pull up the other one. It can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing. The service, up and down a hill on a curved, traffic-free road, was inaugurated in 1885.

It’s classified as a national monument, and it attracts many of the millions of tourists who visit Lisbon each year. People typically wait in long lines for the brief ride covering a few hundred meters.

At least 16 people are dead and another 21 injured after a streetcar derailed in Portugal’s capital on Wednesday, officials said.

Several of those killed on the famed funicular, known as the Elevador da Gloria, were foreigners, Portuguese police confirmed Thursday.

Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: Police and firefighters work on the site of a funicular railway accident in Lisbon, September 3, 2025.

They include one American, one German, one Ukrainian and two Canadians, police said during a press briefing.

“We’ve had phone calls from people looking for their loved ones,” Director of the Portuguese Judicial Police Luis Neves said during the briefing.

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Five Portuguese, two Koreans and one Swiss are confirmed to be among those killed, according to the Public Ministry.

Neves said they are working to identify the three remaining victims.

The Associated Press – APTOPIX Portugal Streetcar Derailed

The injured include a 3-year-old child, according to an official.

Among those injured, six people remain in the intensive care unit Thursday, with three in good condition, according to the Portuguese Public Ministry.

The popular yellow-and-white tram is one of several funiculars in Lisbon that travel up and down the city’s steep streets.

The incident happened around 6:15 p.m. local time Wednesday, when one of the funicular’s two streetcars derailed and crashed, officials said. The rescue mission lasted around two hours, a Public Ministry official told ABC News.

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It appears the safety cable on the electric streetcar broke, causing the car to derail, Lisbon’s communications department said, based on preliminary information. The investigation into the cause is ongoing.

The tram cabin that derailed can hold up to 40 people. It is unclear how many total people were on board.

MORE: American man dead after jet ski collision in the Bahamas

The city’s public transport operator, Carris, said it complied with all maintenance protocols, including daily inspections, for the Elevador da Gloria.

Pedro de Brito Bogas, the head of Carris, said Thursday that it has opened an internal investigation involving external consultants, at the request of the city’s mayor.

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“At the same time, Carris is willing to collaborate with all the competent entities that are conducting investigations,” he said.

All the other funiculars of the city have been suspended and “will go under a rigorous technical inspection carried out by an external entity in the coming days,” he said.

The CEO reiterated that the cause of the crash remains under investigation and it cannot be assumed “that the problem lies with the cable.”

Miguel A Lopes/EPA/Shutterstock – PHOTO: Police and firefighters work on the site of a funicular railway accident in Lisbon, September 3, 2025.

Swiss tourist Rasha Abdo told ABC News she was traveling on the funicular’s other streetcar with her husband and 3-year-old son when the crash occurred. She said they were near the bottom of the hill, traveling uphill, when they suddenly reversed direction.

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She said they heard the other streetcar barreling down the hill toward them, so her husband jumped out the window and she passed their son to him to ensure his safety, before realizing the car had crashed farther uphill.

Her husband, who is a doctor, went to the streetcar to try and assist, but “it was too late,” she said. “I’m really grateful that we are still alive, but on the other side, I’m very sad for the people that lost their lives,” she said.

The mayor of Lisbon declared a three-day period of mourning.

“I offer my sincere condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning,” Mayor Carlos Moedas said in a statement.

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Portugal’s Prime Minister’s Office also declared a national day of mourning for Thursday, expressing its “deep dismay” over the accident, and said it is in contact with local officials.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences.

“It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous ‘Elevador da Glória,'” she said in a statement. “My condolences to the families of the victims.”

ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Hugo Leengardt contributed to this report.

Investigators sifted through the wreckage of a streetcar in downtown Lisbon overnight, trying to determine why the popular tourist attraction derailed during the busy summer season, killing 16 people and injuring 21, five of them seriously.

Portugal’s attorney-general’s office said eight victims have been identified so far: five Portuguese, two South Koreans and a Swiss person.

There is “a high possibility,” based on recovered documents and other evidence, that the victims also include two Canadians, one American, one German and one Ukrainian, according to the head of the national investigative police, Luís Neves. Three remain to be identified.

Among the injured are Spaniards, Israelis, Portuguese, Brazilians, Italians and French people, the executive director of Portugal’s National Health Service, Álvaro Santos Almeida, said.

Police officers inspect the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal. (Source: Associated Press)

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The nationalities appeared to confirm suspicions that the Elevador da Gloria was packed with tourists as well as locals when it came off its rails during the evening rush hour Thursday. Lisbon hosted around 8.5 million tourists last year, and long lines of people typically form for the streetcar’s short and picturesque trip a few hundred meters up and down a city street.

“This tragedy… goes beyond our borders,” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said at his official residence, calling it “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past”. Portugal observed a national day of mourning Thursday.

All 16 autopsies were concluded Thursday, but the identification of three victims requires access to dental records or family DNA that are held abroad, Francisco Corte-Real, the head of the National Forensic Medicine Institute, told a joint news conference.

Operator says the streetcar was inspected daily

The electric streetcar, also known as a funicular, is harnessed by steel cables and can carry more than 40 people. On Thursday, officials took photographs and pulled up cable from beneath the rails that climb one of the Portuguese capital’s steep hills.

Police officers inspect the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal. (Source: Associated Press)

Officials declined to comment on whether a faulty brake or a snapped cable may have prompted the descending streetcar to careen into a building where the steep road bends.

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“The city needs answers,” Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas said in a televised statement, adding that talk of possible causes is “mere speculation”.

Police, public prosecutors and government transport experts are investigating the crash, Montenegro told reporters. The government’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations said it had concluded its analysis of the wreckage and would issue a preliminary report Friday. Chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said a preliminary police report is expected within 45 days.

The company that operates Lisbon’s streetcars and buses, Carris, said it has opened its own investigation.

The streetcar, which has been in service since 1914, underwent a scheduled full maintenance program last year and the company conducted a 30-minute visual inspection of it every day, Carris’ chief executive Pedro de Brito Bogas said during a news conference Thursday.

The streetcar was last inspected nine hours before the derailment, he said, but he didn’t detail the visual inspection nor specify when questioned whether all the cables were tested.

The mayor said he would request an investigation from an outside independent body, but didn’t elaborate.

Tourists and locals ride the 19th century streetcar

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Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency said Thursday that the death toll had risen to 17. It later corrected that to 16, citing a duplication of available information.

People look at a tourist streetcar that derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal. (Source: Associated Press)

All the people who died were adults, Margarida Castro Martins, head of Lisbon’s Civil Protection Agency, told reporters. She didn’t provide their identities, saying their families would be informed first.

The transport workers’ trade union SITRA said that the streetcar’s brakeman, André Marques, was among the dead.

The injured include men and women between the ages of 24 and 65, and a 3-year-old child, Castro Martins said. Among them are Portuguese people, as well as two Germans, two Spaniards and one person each from France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Morocco, South Korea and Cape Verde, she said.

‘It could have been us’

Felicity Ferriter, a 70-year-old British tourist, had just arrived with her husband at a hotel near the crash site and was unpacking her suitcase when she heard “a horrendous crash”.

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A woman reacts as she places flowers at the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal. (Source: Associated Press)

“We heard it, we heard the bang,” she told The Associated Press outside her hotel.

The couple had seen the streetcar when they arrived and intended to ride on it the next day.

“It was to be one of the highlights of our holiday,” she said, adding: “It could have been us.”

Witness Teresa d’Avó told Portuguese television channel SIC that it looked like the streetcar had no brakes.

“It hit the building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box,” she said, describing how passersby scattered into the middle of the nearby Avenida da Liberdade, or Freedom Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare.

Francesca di Bello, a 23-year-old Italian tourist on a family vacation, had been on the Elevador da Gloria just hours before the derailment.

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They walked by the crash site on Thursday, expressing shock at the wreckage. Asked if she would ride a funicular again in Portugal or elsewhere, Di Bello was emphatic: “Definitely not.”

Service halted as inspections ordered

The service, inaugurated in 1885, runs between Restauradores Square and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood renowned for its nightlife. The Elevador da Gloria is classified as a national monument.

Lisbon’s City Council halted operations of three other famous funicular streetcars in the city while immediate inspections were carried out.

European Union flags at the European Parliament and European Commission in Brussels flew at half-staff. Multiple EU leaders expressed their condolences on social media.

Emergency services say 15 people were killed and 18 injured in a streetcar derailment in Lisbon.

Five of the injured are in serious condition, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies said in a statement. An unknown number of the injured are foreigners, it said.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his condolences to the families affected by what had happened.

Foreigners among dead in tragic Portugal funicular crash – watch on TVNZ+

The yellow-and-white streetcar, which goes up and down a steep city hill in tandem with one going the opposite way, was lying on its side on the narrow road that it travels along, Portuguese television channels showed. Its sides and top were partially crumpled. Several dozen emergency workers were at the scene.

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The electric streetcars are one of Lisbon’s landmarks and a big draw for tourists. (Source: Associated Press/Reuters) (Source: Associated Press)

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, local media said. It reportedly occurred at the start of the evening rush hour, around 6pm (local time).

The streetcar, known as Gloria, can carry more than 40 people, seated and standing. It is commonly used by Lisbon residents.

The streetcar, technically called a funicular, is known as Elevador da Gloria. Two streetcars run parallel to each other as they shuttle up and down the hill for a few hundred meters.

It is classified as a national monument.

Lisbon hosted around 8.5 million tourists last year, and the streetcar is a popular attraction.