Cabins in Lisbon streetcar crash lost balance after cable linking them disconnected

Police officers cordon off the area where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.

Inspectors investigating the deadly streetcar crash in Lisbon, Portugal, found that two cabins lost stability after the cable linking them disconnected before the funicular came off its rails and killed 16 people Wednesday, including two Canadians.

The Portuguese government’s office for air and rail accident investigations said in a preliminary technical report that the cabins had travelled not more than about six metres, when they suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the cable connecting them.

The office explained that the second cabin turned the other way around while the first cabin kept accelerating in speed despite the brakeman’s efforts to stop the car.

The second cabin then rolled to the left in the direction of travel, eventually losing control and crashing against the wall of a building.

A Quebec couple were identified as victims of the crash that also injured 21 others. Andre Bergeron and Blandine Daux were archeologists, who worked in Quebec’s Culture Department.

Portuguese police said five of the victims were from Portugal, three from the United Kingdom, two from Canada, two from South Korea, one from the United States, one from France, one from Switzerland, and one from Ukraine.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2025.