(Picture: Instagram/kayleigh.g.smith/AFP)
One of the three British victims of the Lisbon tram crash may have been confused with a German man mistakenly reported as dead because he was wearing a Bundesliga football team top.
William Nelson, 44, has been named as one of the UK nationals killed along with his girlfriend Kayleigh Gillian Smith, 36, and an 82-year-old man.
Portuguese police revealed yesterday a 46-year-old German man said on Thursday to be among the dead was in fact alive and recovering in hospital.
His three-year-old son was also pulled alive from the wreckage alongside his partner who remains in hospital.
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Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha claimed the confusion could have occurred because William, who had arrived in Lisbon with his partner a day before his death, was wearing a Schalke 04 football shirt.
Correio da Manha said: ‘The fact Mr Wilson was wearing a Schalke 04 football top could have led to the error in the identification of the bodies and him being taken for the father of the German three-year-old.’
German press reporting on the mix-up, citing Portuguese police, had previously reported: ‘The description of the German man authorities were given was very similar to that of a British national.
‘It was only possible to establish the true identity of the man who died after forensic tests.’
His 45-year-old partner, who suffered multiple injuries in the tram crash but was today said to be ‘conscious and receiving visits’, is being treated at the city’s Santa Maria Hospital.
Local reports say they only found out about the identification mix-up after they touched down in Lisbon and headed for the city’s Institute of Legal Medicine thinking they were about to have to ID their son’s body.
The carriage, which is part of the popular Elevador Glória funicular, crashed on Wednesday, causing devastation in the heart of the Portuguese capital.
British victim Kayleigh wrote on the day of the crash on social media the couple had spent their first day in the city enjoying ‘churches and castles, tiles and trams’.
She shared several pictures of the local architecture and artworks, as well as selfies with William, one of which appeared to have been taken while they were sat on a tram together.
The death toll was initially 17, but this has since been revised down to 16 people.
Police confirmed those killed in the crash came from eight different countries.
A routine journey which sees the railway take dozens of people up Lisbon’s steep hill went wrong after the train derailed and smashed into a building.
As well as the three British nationals, five Portuguese nationals, two South Koreans, one Swiss, three British, two Canadians, one Ukrainian, one American and one French national were killed.
Investigators are still working to establish the exact cause of the funicular crash.
Authorities have said they believe a broken cable caused the carriage to derail.
Luis Montenegro, the Portuguese prime minister, has described it as ‘one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past’.
The carriage wreckage was taken away yesterday and has been taken to Ministry of Justice-owned land next to a women’s prison in Cascais a short drive from Lisbon.
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