2 Canadians have confirmed deaths in a funeral accident in Portugal

Two Canadians were among the dead in the tram accident in Lisbon this week, Portuguese police announced on Friday.

The derailment on Wednesday evening of the tram which is a popular tourist attraction in Lisbon Wednesday evening in Lisbon also injured 21 people.

The dead included five Portuguese nationals, three British citizens, two Canadians, two South Koreans, an American, a French, a Swiss and a Ukrainian, the local police announced on Friday.

Before this announcement, The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had declared earlier Friday than a woman who was a double citizen of France and Canada died.

Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs Anita Anand has exercised her “greatest condolences” to the families of the victims and said that global Canada affairs “provided consular services to the families of Canadian victims to help them during this difficult period.”

Citizens of Spain, Italy and Brazil were among the injured, in addition to several in Portugal, said officials.

A German man who died in the accident turned out to be in a Lisbon hospital, police said. He did not provide an explanation for the error.

The tram, technically called funicular, is operated by steel cables, with the downward car helping its weight to pull the other. It can transport more than 40 people, seated and standing. The service, from top to bottom of a hill on a curved road without traffic, was inaugurated in 1885.

The Transport Workers’ Union SITRA said Thursday that the braking of the tram, Andre Marques, was among the dead.

Preliminary report expected soon

The first investigation report examining what caused the accident was to be published on Friday.

The government’s office for air and railway surveys said it would publish a preliminary technical report on Friday. The chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said that a preliminary police report with a wider scope was expected within 45 days.

The wreckage of the tram was removed from the scene during the night and placed in police custody.

Witnesses told local media that the tram had appeared uncontrollable when he had reached a hill around 6 p.m. Wednesday at night time. A witness said the tram had overturned a man on a sidewalk.

The sides and the top of the yellow and white tram, known as Elevad Da Gloria, were crumpled and he seemed to have crashed into a building where the road is bent.

Lisbon observes three days of mourning. Hundreds of people attended a dark mass Thursday evening at the majestic church of Lisbon in Saint Dominic.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the mayor of Lisbon Carlos Coins were among the participants.