The municipal company Carris provided incorrect information during the investigation into the accident involving the Glória elevator, according to Expresso. An analysis compared the note from the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aeronautics and Railroad Accidents (GPIAAF), released three days after the tragedy, with the preliminary report completed within 45 days and made public on Monday.
The derailment of the Glória elevator, managed by Carris, occurred on September 3, resulting in 16 fatalities and around 20 injuries, including both Portuguese citizens and foreigners of various nationalities.
The GPIAAF’s initial note stated that the type of cable used in the elevator was deployed “for about six years,” a detail clarified in the preliminary report, revealing that this type of cable was used since “December 2022” and did not comply with Carris’s specifications or hold certification for passenger transport.
Initially, it was suggested use of this cable type began in 2019, attributing responsibility to the former management of Carris and the previous Lisbon mayor, Fernando Medina, as the city owns the public transport company.
In response to the Expresso report, Carris’s current board, led by Pedro de Brito Bogas, who resigned on Wednesday — a resignation accepted by Lisbon’s Mayor Carlos Moedas (PSD) — clarified that “at no point did it provide the information referenced in the news, as it was still establishing the facts related to the cable acquisition.”
“The mentioned data is not part of the extensive documentation that Carris submitted to GPIAAF during the investigation. To date, Carris’s board has not been questioned by GPIAAF,” the company stated in a communication.
Lusa sought a reaction from Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas’s office, which referred the inquiry to Carris.
Newly-elected PS councilor Alexandra Leitão told Lusa that “providing incorrect information to the office conducting accident inspections, whether deliberately or not, is very serious.”
Alexandra Leitão pointed out that the change in dates for the cable usage, from 2019 to 2022, is politically significant. She emphasized that the first GPIAAF document was released before the municipal elections on October 12 and “contained incorrect information, whether deliberately or not, provided by Carris.”
“This misinformation, intentionally or not, objectively benefited Carlos Moedas at the time, who used it to absolve himself of responsibility, as he has throughout this process,” the socialist noted, adding that the current and re-elected Lisbon Mayor “was quick to dismiss responsibility when the GPIAAF note was released, attributing blame to the previous 2017-2021 municipal mandate, led by the PS.”
