On September 3, 2025, shortly after 6:00 p.m., Lisbon’s iconic funicular “elevador da Gloria” had a catastrophic failure when its cable snapped, causing the tram-like funicular to derail and crash into a building. The funicular is a longtime Lisbon, Portugal, landmark popular with tourists and locals alike.
This tragedy has resulted in over a dozen deaths and almost two dozen injuries to locals and tourists from throughout the world. It appears that the cable which pulls the funicular up the hill in the center of Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon snapped, even though there had apparently been an inspection and maintenance as recently as May of 2025. Making this tragedy even worse is the fact that it would have been prevented had the emergency braking system not also failed, allowing the funicular tram to rapidly descend the hill unbraked, causing it to derail and catastrophically crash at the bottom of the hill.
If you or a loved one were seriously injured or killed as a result of this tragedy, our experienced personal injury attorneys at Urban Thier & Federer, P.A. can help you. Over the years, we have handled many serious injury and death cases, including in Portugal with our Portuguese based colleagues.
International Team Of United States, Germany And Portugal Attorneys Focused On Assisting Victims Of Death Or Injury In Portugal
Most cases can be handled on a contingency/No Win No Fee basis. This means that, other than a one time upfront payment, if we agree to accept your case (which is done via a written Legal Representation Agreement), we will advance all case-related costs and our team is paid from any actual recovery we achieve on your behalf. In other words, our compensation is based purely on a percentage of funds actually recovered on your behalf. If we fail to recover funds, we are paid nothing and we write off the costs we advance. As a result, you can rest assured that our legal team’s interests and goals are the same as yours – to ensure the maximum compensation for your injuries and loss.
As soon as you contact us, we will immediately start gathering data about your specific matter to promptly determine if we can be of assistance. We make every effort to file every personal injury and wrongful death case in Portugal’s Courts within the applicable time bar/prescription period for bringing a lawsuit. It is critically important to act promptly.