Accident inspectors reported on Saturday that a cable connecting two cabins detached shortly before the funicular collapse that killed 16 people in Lisbon this week. This happened several hours after a visual inspection of the cable.

This information is contained in a note regarding the incident that occurred on Wednesday, published by the Portuguese Bureau of Aircraft and Rail Accident Investigation (GPIAAF).

"According to currently available information, the maintenance plan was completed on time, and a scheduled visual inspection was conducted on the morning of the accident, during which no abnormalities were found in the operation of the cables or braking systems of the vehicles," the agency's note said.

However, it was not possible to visually inspect the condition of the cable section where it separated from the vehicle before the collision, the department added.

According to preliminary investigations, the funicular collapsed at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour. The incident lasted only 50 seconds, they added.

Investigators have already announced that among the 16 people killed in the plane crash on Wednesday, 11 were foreign citizens.

Among the dead were identified three Britons, two South Koreans, two Canadians, one Frenchwoman, one Swiss woman, one American woman and one Ukrainian woman.

Read more: A French citizen was among the 16 people killed in the Lisbon cable car crash.

According to emergency services, a total of about 20 people were injured, including at least 11 foreigners.

Among the Portuguese victims were four employees of the same social welfare agency, whose offices are located at the top of a steep side road served by a funicular.

Two investigations

Currently, two separate investigations are being conducted into the accident: one by accident investigators and the other by the prosecutor's office.

In its note, the GPIAAF stressed that the two investigations were completely independent of each other.

The statement also said that a preliminary report on the accident will be published within 45 days.

Local media have already speculated about the cause of the crash, citing damaged high-voltage cables and repair work being carried out by Lisbon's public transport operator, Carris.

Carris CEO Pedro Bogas has repeatedly defended the company's equipment maintenance policies, insisting that procedures were "scrupulously followed."

Portuguese media published a report from a daily check carried out on the morning of the tragedy, which showed that the operating system was functioning smoothly.

The number of passengers using Carris' three funiculars in Lisbon increased by 53 percent between 2022 and 2024, reaching 1.5 million passengers last year, according to weekly newspaper Expresso.