Portugal’s worst train disaster
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 11 September 1985 in Mangualde, central Portugal, an express train collided head-on with a regional train killing an estimated 150 people.
The impact destroyed both engines and the leaking diesel caught fire. Many of the bodies were unidentifiable after passengers who survived the collision were trapped in the wreckage and unable to escape the blaze and toxic fumes.
An inquiry found both trains had been allowed to use the same single track line when the express should have had priority. A station master who realised the mistake was unable to contact the drivers in time.
Most of the victims’ remains are buried in a mass grave near the disaster site and a small chapel has now been built where memorial services take place every year.
Jacqueline Paine speaks to former voluntary fire station Commander Américo Borges who was one of the first on the scene.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: Monument in memory of the Alcafache accident. Credit: Vitor Oliveira)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
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| 0:12.1 | You might. You might. It is called Sightraught with me Nick Grimshaw. |
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| 0:44.5 | Hello and welcome to Witness History. |
| 0:46.7 | I'm Jacqueline Payne and this is the podcast that looks back at a key moment in history that's helped to shape our world. |
| 0:53.0 | If you've listened before, you'll know |
| 0:54.6 | new episodes come out every weekday, and they're just nine minutes long. Make sure you never |
| 0:59.8 | miss an episode by hitting subscribe and turning on your push notifications. Today, we're going |
| 1:05.9 | back to Portugal's worst train disaster, which led to the deaths of an estimated 150 people following a head-on collision. |
| 1:14.8 | And just a warning, there are some distressing details. |
| 1:22.3 | It's the 11th of September, 1985, and hundreds of people are travelling on a packed international train |
| 1:28.6 | to the French capital Paris from Portugal's second city, Porto. |
... |
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