A THREE-year-old boy on the doomed Lisbon tram screamed for a cop to hold him after the harrowing crash left his dad dead and his mum fighting for her life.
At least 17 people were killed in the horrifying collision which left passengers trapped under rubble while rescuers rushed to save them.
EPAA three-year-old boy screamed for a cop to hold him after the Gloria Funicular crashed[/caption]
APThe boy’s dad died and his mum was left fighting for her life[/caption]
APAt least 17 people have been confirmed dead[/caption]
The boy’s mum was left in critical condition while his dad was found dead after the iconic Gloria Funicular sped out of control and smashed into a building.
The tragic family were on holiday in the Portuguese capital when the cable car reportedly came loose from a wire.
After the boy was rescued, he refused to let go of the police officer who saved his mum, pleading: “Please hold me!”
The 45-year-old officer rushed the mum to hospital while she was in critical condition – with her son staying by his side the entire time, CNN Portugal reported.
The child was luckily left unharmed, but will reportedly undergo psychological treatment.
His mum is still in an intensive care unit.
Chilling footage showed rescuers running over to the wreckage, with distressed onlookers heard screaming: “There’s kids under there.”
Witness Bruno Pereira – who lived on Rua da Glória for 10 years – gave a detailed account of the crash to the outlet.
He described how the bottom tram appeared to derail with a “metallic thud”.
And then a few seconds later – the top tram came screaming down the hill at “breakneck speed”, smashing into the bend as if it had been “thrown down the hill”.
Bruno said: “It was panic. We all ran, everyone there. Some tried to pull people out from under the tram.
“The bodywork was destroyed, there were cobblestones everywhere, and the metal grooves, so to speak, where the elevator used to run were all ripped out.”
He claimed to see the three-year-old German boy coming out of the wreckage, begging for someone to pick him up.
It comes as the first victim of the tram disaster was named as brakeman André Marques.
Including the German mum, at least 21 people were injured in the horrifying crash.
Witnesses described the car crumpling like a “cardboard box” when it hit the wall on Wednesday.
André Marques, the brake guard in charge of the funicular when it derailed, has been named and pictured as the first victim
SolarpixRescuers running over to the wreckage of a funicular tram after it crashed and killed at least 15 people in Lisbon[/caption]
ReutersCivil protection director speaks to the press near the wreck[/caption]
XFootage showed the smashed wreckage of the tram[/caption]
The list of victims is understood to include eight women, seven men and two unidentified victims.
Among the dead and injured are Portuguese nationals, Germans, Spaniards, as well as people from South Korea, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland, Morocco and Cape Verde, reports say.
Police are now investigating as they desperately try to piece together the tragedy.
The disturbing footage also showed dozens of bystanders sprinting up the steep road to find the car flipped on its side and torn apart into splintered metal.
Clouds of dust and smoke had engulfed the narrow lane as a crowd of concerned onlookers gathered at the bottom of the hill.
Expert analysis: What went wrong?
Prof Dave Cooper, Chair the British Standards committee for Cableways in the UK, told The Sun about what may have caused the tragedy.
He said: “From an engineering design perspective what we know is that the system opened in 1885 and is therefore unlikely to have complied with modern standards expected of a new cableway system.
“It can be described as a heritage system. It had two cars each rated at 43 persons and travelled a distance of some 265metres.
“From description seen it is understood that the system had just set off with the lower car ascending and inversely the upper car descending.
“Passengers from the lower car describe it that the car had just left the bottom station and travelled a short distance and then suddenly reversed and relaxed to its stopping position.
“Given that the bottom car is still intact in that position and the top car that was descending is now down the track and has derailed it can be said that the relationship between the two cars has been lost.
“It is possible that the ropes that connected the two have broken. It is understood that there were bends in the track and that if the top car was descending uncontrollably the geometry of the track may have allowed the car to derail given the speed that it would have achieved.
“What is not understood is why the emergency brake (if there was one) on the uncontrollably descending car did not apply.
“It maybe that it did but was unable to overcome a combination of the mass of the car and its passengers and the speed at which it was travelling.”
Terrified onlooker Teresa d’Avo told TV channel SIC: “It crashed into a building with brutal force and fell apart like a cardboard box.
“It crashed with tremendous force. It didn’t have any kind of brakes.
“The people inside were obviously scared, and we rushed to help.”
Fire crews and paramedics arrived shortly after as they swarmed the wreckage.
Rescue teams hauling stretchers had to use specialised cutting equipment to get inside the mangled carriage.
APA woman places flowers at the site of the crash[/caption]
EPAFirefighters rushed to the crash scene as they had to cut people out of the wreckage[/caption]
ReutersView of the site of the accident with the smashed tram on the bend[/caption]
Civil protection officials said 62 rescue workers and 22 vehicles were deployed to the site for the two hour rescue and recovery mission.
Portugal’s National Institute of Medical Emergencies confirmed that some of the victims were foreign nationals.
A pregnant German woman is in a critical condition, according to Observador.
An Italian woman also broke her arm, Corriere della Sera reports citing the Italian embassy in Lisbon.
Portugal‘s government has declared a national day of mourning.
A police line guards the wreckage
Firefighters work the scene following the derailmentGetty