PS councilors in the Lisbon City Council demanded this Tuesday, October 21st, the resignation of the Carris administration, following the conclusions of the preliminary report by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents (GPIAAF) on the accident at the Elevador da Glória, which caused the death of 16 people.
Speaking to SIC Notícias, Alexandra Leitão considered that “the passing of blame between the current board of directors and the previous board of directors and the dismissal of an intermediate manager is clearly not enough and does not meet the seriousness that the report points out”. The socialist greenmaker for Lisbon argued that the report, still preliminary, “is extremely serious” and “demonstrates that this very serious, tragic accident could have been avoided if there had been no carelessness and negligence”.
In view of the conclusions of the GPIAAF report, Alexandra Leitão stated: At this moment We already know enough to say that there is no possibility of maintaining, at least, the chairman of the board of directors of Carris. A relationship of trust with the people of Lisbon has been completely broken.”
In a statement, Lisbon’s socialist councilors “consider that the Carris leadership lost the conditions to continue in office, given the contradictions and the seriousness of the known conclusions”. Therefore, they argue: “If the president of the board of directors does not submit his resignation, it is up to the president of Lisbon City Council to make that decision, assuming the political responsibility that falls to him as guardian of the company”.
The socialist councilors consider the conclusions of the preliminary report, which detected flaws and omissions in the maintenance of the lift, “very serious”, also pointing out the lack of training for employees and supervision of the work carried out by the company providing the service.
According to PS councilors, This report on the accident refutes the version initially presented publicly by Carris that “all maintenance procedures had been complied with”by “revealing unacceptable flaws and negligence in a public facility under municipal responsibility”.
The PS in the Lisbon Chamber states that it “demands that due responsibilities be assumed, without exceptions or cover-ups” and that “the municipal executive ensures total transparency in the investigation, implements all recommended correction and security measures”, with reinforcement of “the internal and external control mechanisms of the municipal company, ensuring that similar situations do not happen again”.
“It is not acceptable for an accident with fatalities and injuries to occur in a public facility and for the consequences to be limited to intermediate sanctions or a mere pass of blame”, they added.
For Alexandra Leitão, in statements to SIC Notícias, “it is necessary to determine until the end the administrative responsibility, technical responsibility and political responsibility” for the accident. “There is responsibility on Carris, there is responsibility on those who supervise Carris”he defended.
The accident with the Glória elevator, which occurred on September 3, caused 16 deaths and around two dozen injuries, including Portuguese and foreigners of various nationalities.
In a preliminary report on the causes of the accident, the GPIAAF pointed out, in particular, failures at Carris, maintenance and supervision.