The consternation in Lisbon due to the Gloria Elevator accident only increases as the hours pass and details become known about some of the 16 dead and the twenty injured left by the tragedy.

But in the midst of the tragedy There has been some good news: among the survivors is a German boy, just three years old, whose story is moving the inhabitants of the Portuguese capital.

The little boy, who was on vacation in the city with his parents, was pulled, in tears, from the wreckage that the funicular had become by some people who were in the area at the time of the accident.

“I’ve never seen a scene like this before. So many people screaming, so much blood,” Bruno Pereira, one of the first to arrive at the scene, told CNN Portugal.

“Suddenly, a child appeared with his arms open,” the witness added.

“Grab me.”

The child was covered in blood, although he did not have serious injuries, reported RTP, the Portuguese public broadcaster.

“He had blood on his face and was crying,” a man identified as Mohamed told the Portuguese television station TVI, who also shared a video where he is seen with a friend and the little boy.

“Are you okay? Calm down, calm down,” he tells the boy, in the images recorded moments after the derailment.

According to the Portuguese press, the little boy would have witnessed how a police officer pulled his mother from the remains of the car and took her to an ambulance. Immediately afterwards, the infant lunged at the officer.

“Hold me, please!” he allegedly gestured, reported CNN Portugal.

The uniformed officer took the little boy in his arms and took him to San Jose Hospital, where some of the more than 20 injured were taken.

However, the officer's task did not end there, because the boy did not let go even when he was being treated by doctors for his cuts and bruises.

The Portuguese press reports that the officer remained with the boy at the health center during the first night after the accident.

The officer's identity has not been released, and the local press has only reported that he is an official with more than 20 years of experience.

"A member of our Criminal Investigation Division, who was carrying out crime prevention work, was one of the first to arrive at the scene," police told the Portuguese newspaper Observador.

Meanwhile, the newspaper Publico reported that the boy was discharged on Thursday and is currently in the care of relatives who traveled from Hamburg.

Confusion

But the rescue of the boy is not the only good news related to this German family, whose identity has not been disclosed. Initially, the Portuguese authorities assured that the boy's father had died in the accident. However, this information was corrected on Friday morning.

"The German citizen, identified as one of the fatalities, was later hospitalized at San Jose Hospital," the Judicial Police announced in a statement.

This version was confirmed by the German authorities.

"According to the information available to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at this time there are no German citizens among the fatalities," reads a statement issued by the agency.

"Several German citizens have been affected by the accident. Our thoughts are with the victims of this tragic accident," added the German government statement.

The error would have occurred because when the injured were transferred to the different health centers, the child's father, 46 years old, could not be identified and was presumed dead.

Among the deceased are citizens of eight countries, revealed the Judicial Police and the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Portugal.

Confirmation of the confusion came when relatives of the alleged victim, who arrived from Hamburg, were unable to identify her among the bodies in the morgue, reported CNN Portugal.

Regarding the mother, health authorities assured that the 45-year-old woman is in “critical but stable condition.”

This is not the first erroneous information that Portuguese authorities have given about the fatalities in this accident.

On Thursday morning, the head of Civil Protection in Lisbon, Margarida Castro, announced that the number of fatalities had risen from 15 to 17, but hours later the country's Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, lowered this number to 16.

Of the more than 20 injured in this incident, ten are in serious condition and six are in intensive care, said Alvaro Almeida, director general of the National Health Service.

Although the investigation to determine the cause of the accident continues, a document states that the crashed vehicle was inspected hours before the tragedy and that it was reported that "it had all the conditions to function," reported the newspaper Diario da Noticias.

The cable that many point to as the cause of the incident was to be replaced in 263 days, according to the document prepared by the company that had the contract for the maintenance of the Elevador de la Gloria.

The remains of the funicular were removed and transferred to a government facility for study.