LISBON (AP) — Ana Lopes worked at a Catholic charity in Portugal ‘s capital, often commuting up and down a hill on one of Lisbon’s famed yellow-and-white streetcars.
The 50-something woman helped dozens of people navigate the adoption of children, a trying process that can take a decade. Her benevolent work came to a an abrupt end Wednesday when her streetcar careened off its tracks and crashed into a building.
“It’s a huge tragedy. It’s very difficult to understand what’s happening to us,” Gonçalo de Oliveira, 44, said through tears on Friday. Lopes had shepherded him and his partner through an adoption that had been a lifelong dream, and he often met up with her at family reunions and events.
“There was no apparent risk, yet, all of a sudden, it just happened. We lost 16 lives, Portug