Rio in mourning after worst ever tram accident

Monday, 29 August 2011 00:23

The tram, which had a maximum capacity of 44, derailed as it went into a turn on Saturday. Among the injured are five foreigners -- three French nationals, a Portuguese woman and an Englishman.

Tram service remained suspended on Sunday, as investigators probe the incident. Activists say the city -- which will host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics -- has been too slow to modernize the tram network.

"Sooner or later, a tragedy like this was bound to happen. Santa Teresa has not seen any investment funds," the president of the local residents' association, Elzbieta Mitkiewicz, said Sunday.

The country's transport minister Julio Lopes, who visited the accident site on Saturday, said that according to preliminary investigations, the tram was overcrowded.

"This accident is a great sorrow for the government and for the population. It's a tragedy for tourism in this city," Lopes said.

Ten of the injured remain in serious condition, the city's health department said Sunday.

"I saw a lot of injured people. There was blood everywhere. I was very nervous but I helped provide assistance to those in need," Rinaldo Ferreira, who witnessed the accident, told the O Globo newspaper.

Four of the five victims died instantly, while the tram driver, who had 30 years of experience, died en route to the hospital, firefighters said.

A French tourist was killed in June when he fell from the tram, which was on a bridge, while taking a photo. In August 2009, two tram accidents occurred in a week, killing one person and injuring 10 others.