Lisbon man who said ‘we’re all going to die’ escapes funicular crash

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By Sergio Goncalves and Miguel Pereira

MADRID (Reuters) -A Lisbon resident who thought he was going to die as a funicular car hurtled towards him had a narrow escape when it crashed into a building metres away, killing at least 17 people.

Abel Esteves, his wife and their grandson were among about 40 passengers about to begin climbing the steep cobbled Calcada da Gloria street on the Gloria funicular railway line on Wednesday when they saw another car careering down the hill towards them.

“When I saw another carriage coming down, I told my wife: ‘We’re all going to die here,'” he said, fighting back tears. “(The second carriage) picked up a brutal speed, took a slight curve and hit the building with a loud bang.”

The Gloria line, which opened in 1885 and transports around 3 million people a year including many tourists, connects Lisbon’s downtown area near Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto, or Upper Quarter, which has a vibrant nightlife.

Esteves, 75, said he had earlier used the railway to descend from the Chiado neighbourhood to Restauradores Square and was on his way back home when the crash happened.

The driver of the crashed car, who died, had earlier brought them down the hill, he said.

After the crash, Esteves said he rushed to help rescue people from the wreckage. Two men had already pulled out one woman onto the pavement, he said. He lifted a metal frame out of the way to pull another woman from the car but she was already dead, he said.

Esteves said he has lived in Lisbon for 62 years and that he never until now felt at risk when using the 140-year-old funicular railway.

“I never felt unsafe… but I’m never again going to take a tram (funicular), for as long as I live,” he said.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Miguel Pereira; Writing by Charlie Devereux, Editing by Timothy Heritage)