Sawt Falasteen - Portugal releases first details of 16 killed in funicular crash

Portugal was observing a day of national mourning, one day after the apparent accident, which also seriously injured another five people.

A prosecution service spokesman said five Portuguese, two Koreans and a Swiss national had been identified among the dead.

A police spokesman said they had good reason to believe that two Canadians, a German, a Ukrainian and a US citizen were also among those killed.

Documents found on the victims, statements from people searching for loved ones and messages sent at the time of the accident meant their conclusions had "a high degree of probability", they added.

The yellow Gloria funicular, a beloved symbol of the Portuguese capital, veered off a steep stretch of tracks Wednesday evening in one of Lisbon's most popular tourist spots, crashing into a building.

One woman interviewed by television channel SIC said the train, which can hold about 40 people, struck the building "with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box".

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas called the incident a tragedy the likes of which "our city has never seen".

As investigators in fluorescent vests and blue gloves worked around the mangled funicular, still lying on its side against a wall, people began leaving flowers near the cordoned-off crash site.

- Maintenance 'scrupulously respected' -

Fifteen people -- eight men and seven women -- were killed instantly and one person died later in hospital, emergency services said.

More than 20 people were injured, five of them seriously, officials said.

At least 11 foreigners were among the injured -- two Germans, two Spaniards, a Frenchwoman, an Italian, a Swiss national, a Canadian, a South Korean, a Moroccan and a Cape Verdean, emergency services said.

Earlier Thursday, the Observador news website cited a police source as saying that a German man was killed, his wife was in a critical condition and their three-year-old child slightly injured.

An emergency services official confirmed that a three-year-old had been injured but did not specify the nationality.

The German foreign ministry said its Lisbon embassy was working with local authorities on identifying the victims.

As Lisbon prosecutors opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, the city's public transport operator Carris said it had complied with "all maintenance protocols".

"Everything was scrupulously respected," said Carris chief Pedro Bogas.

Following the crash, the authorities halted Lisbon's three other funiculars "to check the conditions and safety of their operations", said municipal civil protection spokeswoman Margarida Castro.

V.Said--SF-PST