As Sonia Silva ready to go away work on Wednesday night, she was requested by a colleague to assist with a fast job.
It meant she missed her common funicular trip down the hill with a piece good friend on their commute house from the workplace within the centre of Lisbon.
When she arrived on the cease a short time later, the funicular had crashed and her good friend was lifeless.
“After I obtained there, it was a tragedy,” she stated.
Sixteen individuals have been killed on Wednesday night in Lisbon when its iconic 140-year-old Glória funicular derailed and crashed right into a constructing. The Portuguese prime minister has described it as “one of many largest human tragedies of our latest historical past”.
Lots of these killed have been overseas nationals, together with three British individuals whose identities haven’t but been introduced. Police say 5 killed have been Portuguese – and 4 of them labored on the Santa Casa da Misericórdia charity, positioned on the high of the hill.
A service was held on Friday in a church subsequent to the charity’s headquarters, honouring the employees killed within the crash. The service was crowded, with individuals filling the aisles and some other accessible house.
As they left, colleagues wept and supported one another as they tried to make sense of what had occurred. A number of instructed the BBC that they frequently used the funicular as a part of their commute.
Sitting on a bench exterior, Sonia stated she had labored on the charity for eight years and used the funicular every day.
“I can not specific [how I feel] – it’s totally tough. I’m grateful however on the identical time I am very, very offended as a result of my colleagues and many individuals died,” she stated.
She stated she would journey to and from work every day along with her colleague Sandra Coelho.
“I used to be very keen on her as a result of I all the time took the funicular along with her – going house and within the morning. It’s extremely tough as a result of I am not going to see her anymore,” she stated by way of tears, as colleagues comforted her.
On their commute, she stated the 2 girls would gossip and discuss their days.
“We might discuss colleagues, work, every part. We might meet within the morning and once we completed,” she stated.
Others across the church additionally mourned the lack of mates and tried to course of what had occurred.
“It is terrible, we’re devastated. It is tough to work in the intervening time,” stated Lurdes Henriques.
“We’re all the time serious about our colleagues and questioning ‘did they undergo?’ They might be right here with us now. We’re deeply, deeply unhappy.”
“It may have been any one among us – all of us used this type of transport and we felt very assured in it,” stated Tania, one other employee on the charity.
Rui Franco, a metropolis councillor whose shut good friend and former colleague Alda Matias was killed in Wednesday’s crash, stated he was in shock.
“She was about my age. She had a household, youngsters and I can not think about if it was me what could be taking place to my household. She was an awesome individual… with a really stable approach of performing on this planet,” he stated.
Mr Franco stated he was “already offended” when he first realized of the deadly crash, “then once I understood I knew the individuals concerned, the craze [became] overwhelming”.
Whereas an investigation into the reason for the crash is beneath approach, there was a lot hypothesis amongst mourners.
“It was all the time overcrowded,” one stated, whereas one other blamed poor upkeep.
The chief of the rail staff union Fectrans claimed that some staff had complained that issues with the strain of the cable that hauls the carriages had made braking tough.
“Even planes fall out of the sky generally. Accidents occur,” stated one other lady.
A number of instructed the BBC that regardless of the trigger, they might not think about utilizing the funicular once more.
“I’ve instructed everybody I am not going to make use of it anymore,” stated Sonia earlier than heading again into the workplace, flanked by work mates.