The cable that snapped in the cable car accident in Lisbon in September was not certified to carry people and did not meet the specifications of carriers, according to interim findings from authorities reported by CNN Portugal.
A preliminary investigation has found that at least 16 people were killed and several others were injured in the accident, when a steel cable connecting two cars of the historic Gloria cable car snapped.
Shortly after the car began traveling along Calzada da Gloria, a narrow street where the cable car operates, the cable broke down.
Witnesses reported seeing one of the two train cars derail, skidding down the road and crashing into a building. A man named Bruno told CNN Portugal that the cable car “went completely out of control.”
“It looked like toys were being thrown from one side of Gloria’s sidewalk to the other. I heard a scream and then suddenly I heard a loud bang,” he said. “I couldn’t hear anyone’s voices anymore, and there was a cloud of brown smoke.”
The Civil Aviation and Rail Accident Prevention Investigation Agency (GPIAAF) said in an interim report that there were “serious cable, maintenance and brake failures”, CNN Portugal reported on Monday.
The report said the cable did not meet specifications set by cable car operator CARRIS. The GPIAAF also found that while maintenance tasks were marked as complete even though they were not always performed, the maintenance plans themselves were recorded as “compliant and accepted” by operators.
GPIAAF said a final report on the crash would be published next year, stressing that the interim findings were preliminary and not conclusive.
Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.
