Here is everything we know so far.

What do we know about the victims?

The US state department confirmed the death of an American citizen in a statement.

Among the injured were four Portuguese, two Germans, two Spaniards, one Korean, one Cape Verdean, one Canadian, one Italian, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Moroccan, said Margarida Martins, Lisbon’s director of emergency services.

What do we know about the incident?

“I told my wife: ‘We’re all going to die here’,” he said. “It picked up a brutal speed, took a slight turn and hit the building with a loud bang.”

What have the Portuguese authorities said?

“This is one of the greatest human tragedies in our recent history,” Montenegro said in a televised statement, adding he expects the investigation into the causes of the accident to be concluded swiftly.

Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (centre-left), pays respects to the victims of the Gloria funicular crash in Lisbon. Source: AAP / Miguel A Lopes/EPA

He said Portugal’s state airline, TAP, had offered to provide transport for the families of the victims and to repatriate the injured and the deceased.

Thirty-eight people were hurt in the accident, with 15 killed at the scene while one more person died in hospital overnight.

What was the cause of the crash?

Manuel Leal, leader of the Federation of Transport and Communications Workers’ Unions, told local TV workers had complained that problems with the tension of the cable that hauls the carriages had made braking difficult, but that it was too early to say if that was the cause of the crash.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro (right) and Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas (left) talk to the media after a ministerial meeting. Source: AAP / Tiago Petinga/EPA

The municipal transport company Carris said in a statement, “all maintenance protocols have been carried out”, including monthly and weekly maintenance and daily inspections.