Chain collision on Lisbon's Vasco da Gama Bridge injures six, shuts north-south lanes for nearly two hours
A multi-vehicle crash on the Vasco da Gama Bridge near Lisbon left six people injured on Friday afternoon, shutting the north-south carriageway for over an hour and a half as emergency crews worked to clear the scene.
A multi-vehicle crash on the Vasco da Gama Bridge near Lisbon shut the north-south carriageway for over an hour and a half on Friday afternoon, leaving six people injured.
Collision mid-bridge
At 16:50 on Friday, 10 July, the Sub-Regional Command of Emergency and Civil Protection of Greater Lisbon received an alert of a chain collision on the Vasco da Gama Bridge, which carries the A12 motorway from Lisbon to Montijo. Early reports spoke of five light vehicles involved, but a later update raised the count to six. The crash occurred in the middle of the bridge, blocking all three lanes of the north-south carriageway. No immediate details were released about the cause, though the bridge is susceptible to high winds and heavy peak-hour traffic.
Emergency response and injuries
Twenty-five operatives were dispatched from Sacavém, supported initially by 10 vehicles and later by 12 rescue units according to different accounts. The GNR (National Republican Guard) and bridge operator Lusoponte arrived to coordinate operations. Six people sustained injuries, all classified by the emergency command as light. By 18:00, the victims were still being assisted on site before being transported to three hospitals: Barreiro, Loures, and São José in central Lisbon. The response indicates a complex extraction, though authorities did not explicitly confirm whether anyone was trapped in the wreckage.
Traffic disruption and reopening
The southbound lanes remained fully closed for close to an hour and forty minutes, creating long tailbacks on the approach to one of the Lisbon metropolitan area's main river crossings. At 18:33, the Civil Protection authority announced that one of the three lanes had been reopened, allowing a gradual release of the congestion. Full traffic flow was restored later in the evening, though the precise time was not specified in the afternoon bulletins.
- Emergency services receive alert of a multi-vehicle collision on the bridge
- Six people with light injuries still being assisted at the scene
- One lane of three reopened to traffic, allowing partial flow
Unconfirmed Tesla fire
Newspaper Correio da Manhã reported that a Tesla vehicle caught fire at the scene, but this claim was not officially confirmed by the emergency services. The SAPO news portal noted the report and flagged it as unverified. Without corroboration, the detail remains speculative.
