A German national who was thought to have died in the derailment of a funicular in Lisbon has been found alive in hospital by his parents, DPA reported.
A Portuguese police spokeswoman confirmed to DPA today that law enforcement authorities had thought the man was dead. His relatives, who had arrived from Germany, were asked to identify the body of the man, who was thought to be German.
When the parents discovered that it was not their son, a DNA test was carried out to confirm this. The parents were then shown photos of injured and still unidentified victims of the accident, who are in various hospitals in the city. The parents recognized their son in one of the photos.
The man is in Lisbon's "San José" hospital but is unconscious. His wife is also seriously injured and their child has minor injuries, the spokeswoman said. She did not specify which city in Germany the family came from.
On Wednesday evening, one of Lisbon's most famous tourist attractions turned into a death trap in seconds, most likely due to a failure in the cable of the historic funicular. It fell down without brakes, derailed, overturned and crashed into a building. Sixteen people were killed and 21 were injured, some seriously.
This is the first such incident involving one of Lisbon's three funiculars, which have been in operation since the 19th century. The case is currently under investigation.