Footage shows scenes of panic with bystanders crowding around one of the cars and smoke coming from it

Rescuers and firefighters operate at scene after Gloria funicular cable railway derailed in Lisbon, Portugal(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

Lisbon’s famous Gloria Funicular train has derailed, killing 15 people and injuring at least 20. Portuguese police have confirmed the deaths of 15 people while others are thought to be trapped in the train’s wreckage.

Police, paramedics and firefighters raced to the scene in a bid to rescue passengers after one of the two cars permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable fell “from a great height” at 6.05pm local time.

Footage shows scenes of panic, with bystanders crowding around one of the cars with smoke coming from it. Behind it a twisted mangle of metal can be seen, where another car or part of the same structure has come off the rail and broken into several parts.

A witness told of the horror moment part of Lisbon’s Gloria Funicular lost control and crashed into a pavement, sparking panic onboard, the Mirror reports.

Foreigners “are among the dead” in this evening’s funicular crash, Portugal’s National Institute of Medical Emergencies said.

Officials are yet to say if any British or Irish nationals are among the fatalities or the injured, although it is highly likely as the Gloria funicular is a massive tourist attraction.

But sources at the INEM emergency medical services provider said the dead did include “non-Portuguese” citizens.

The man told respected Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha: “The lower lift was descending slowly, as usual, but about a metre and a half from the bottom, its brakes went and that’s what alerted us, because then it hit the pavement very hard and the people inside started screaming.”

Saying he realised another lift was heading towards them from above “completely out of control”, he added: “It wasn’t travelling at normal speed at all, and we only had time to turn around and start running, because we didn’t know if it was going to hit the lift below.

“The biggest concern was that it would end up on the road leading to Rossio Square.”

Witnesses said the building the funicular smashed into was a hotel.

One said: “The police took less than five minutes to arrive and told us to get back and the first ambulances started arriving five minutes later.

“One of the victims I saw was cut all over the place and covered in blood.

“A lot of people appeared to be unconscious.”