Ottawa man killed in Lisbon funicular crash

Family and friends are remembering an Ottawa man killed in Portugal funicular crash last week. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

An Orléans man who was killed in a funicular crash in Lisbon earlier this month is being remembered as “one of the sweetest human beings ever,” as friends and family question whether Canadian government officials could have done more to help following the crash.

Aziz Benharref, 42, was in Portugal on vacation with his wife when the popular funicular they were on derailed and crashed on Sept. 3. The crash killed 16 people and injured 21 others.

“Very, very fast, like going in the highway and everyone was screaming,” said Hind Iguernane, Benhaffef’s wife, from a hospital bed in Lisbon.

She has a fractured hip and shoulder, along with other injuries.

“It was very scary. It crashed. I didn’t see him. I called him; I was calling Aziz and he didn’t answer.”

Iguernane said the two had switched places when they boarded the funicular.

“We sat next to each other. I was supposed to sit in his place, and he said, ‘No, just move a bit and I will be there,’ because it was more comfortable for me.”

She said she was in and out of consciousness and it took days to find out what happened to her husband.

“When they took me to the hospital, I kept asking and for like two nights nobody knows or at least he didn’t told me what happened to him. They were just telling me, ‘We’re all looking for him, we keep looking for him.’”

Benharref is a Canadian citizen from Morocco. Iguernane is also from Morocco and a permanent resident of Canada.

Iguernane’s brother Youness lives with the couple in Orléans. Feeling helpless, he turned to social media and found strangers willing to go search for his brother-in-law in Lisbon.

“I start searching about the groups on Facebook, the Moroccan groups on Facebook, if someone can help us and thanks God, I found two guys from Algeria and another girl from Morocco,” said Youness Iguernane. “He took his bike, and he checked all of the hospitals around seven or eight.”

Ayoub Sajjaa knew Benharref for more than 20 years and went to university with him in Morocco.

“It was shocking to all of us, we’re still in shock,” said Sajjaa. “He was the best of us, honestly. This is what I always say. An exemplary person, a very helping member of the community in Orléans here.”

Sajjaa and the family believe Canadian officials could have done more to help and don’t understand why Benharref was not mentioned when Global Affairs Canada announced the deaths of two Canadian citizens from Quebec City.

“They took the information that we had, and they tried to get information, but we did not get any help from them,” Sajjaa said. “It was really frustrating because for the whole night we tried to find solutions from our own. You know, we tried to reach out to people from Facebook, from Instagram, anyone that lives in Portugal, basically. And we got help from people that we had never known before and it was really sad because we were saying that, ‘Oh Canada, can you know help us.’”

Iguernane remains in hospital. Her husband will be buried in Morocco.

“He’s one of the sweetest human beings ever. He was kind to everyone. He was generous, hardworking, respectful. He was a great husband. He loved Canada,” she said, asking “people to pray for him, for all the people and victims of the tragedy and pray for us to stay strong.”

Global Affairs Canada told CTV News Ottawa Tuesday afternoon the department is aware of the deaths of two Canadian citizens in the Lisbon streetcar crash.

“We extend our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones as well as to all of those affected,” a Global Affairs spokesperson said in an email.

“Consular officials are providing consular assistance to the families and are in contact with local authorities. Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Iguernane.

Two Quebec residents were among the 16 people killed in the crash.

The victims were identified as Canadian citizen André Bergeron and his wife, Blandine Daux, a French national who has been a permanent resident of Canada.