Two Canadians were among the dead in the streetcar crash in Lisbon this week, Portuguese police said on Friday.
The derailment Wednesday evening of the streetcar that is a popular tourist attraction in Lisbon also injured 21 people.
The dead included five Portuguese nationals, three British citizens, two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French, one Swiss and one Ukrainian, local police said Friday.
Before that announcement, France’s foreign ministry had said earlier Friday that a woman who was a dual citizen of both France and Canada had died.
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement on Thursday it was aware of “two missing Canadian citizens” and “extends its deepest sympathies to all those affected.”
Citizens of Spain, Italy and Brazil were among the injured, in addition to several from Portugal, officials have said.
A German man thought to have died in the crash was found to be in a Lisbon hospital, police said. It didn’t provide an explanation for the error.
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.
The first investigative report examining what caused the crash was expected to be released Friday.
The government’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations said it would issue a preliminary technical report Friday. Chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said a preliminary police report with a broader scope is expected within 45 days.
The streetcar’s wreckage was removed from the scene overnight and placed in police custody.
Witnesses told local media that the streetcar appeared out of control as it careened down a hill at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday 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.
Lisbon is observing three days of mourning. Hundreds of people attended a sombre mass on Thursday evening at Lisbon’s majestic Church of Saint Dominic.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas were among the attendees.
