Sintra, Portugal, Aug. 19, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mayor of Sintra expressed his sorrow on Wednesday at the deaths of two workers following the collapse of a crane in Belas, adding that he had asked the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) to assess safety issues.
Two people, aged 28 and 40, died this morning following the collapse of a crane near Sintra, in the district of Lisbon.
The two individuals were painting a building when the crane fell onto the public highway at around 8 a.m., causing their deaths and damage to three vehicles, according to information that the PSP and the Greater Lisbon Sub-Regional Civil Protection Command provided to the Lusa news agency.
«We have asked the ACT to come to the scene because this also relates to working conditions. Therefore, ACT technicians are on their way to the site. We are also, within the council, looking into the licensing of this construction work, because it is on public land and requires a licence from the council,» said Marco Almeida in statements to journalists at the scene of the accident.
According to Almeida, the local authority will investigate the circumstances surrounding the planning permission.
«We will look into what happened. I prefer to base conclusions about responsibility on confirmed facts. I have asked the relevant departments to investigate, along with the ACT, and I have spoken to some residents who said the crane was swaying quite a lot, but let's leave that to the experts: the technicians are responsible for establishing what happened,» he said.
Almeida emphasised that the council is concerned about building works taking place in its municipality that are not properly licensed.
«That is what we are going to investigate – whether there were any failings and who was at fault,» said the mayor, noting that he had spoken to the block's management and the building contractor, who «was tight-lipped».
«He was tight-lipped. Now it is up to the PSP to provide clarification,» he said.
Marco Almeida also said that psychologists had been called in to help the victims' families.
DD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
