Rio’s scenic trolley derails, killing five

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A popular trolley that runs through a scenic Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood overlooking downtown derailed yesterday afternoon, killing five and wounding more than 30 others, the fire department said.

The trolley, depicted in the film Black Orpheus, is a common tourist attraction in Rio, which will host the World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in 2016.

A spokesman for the fire department could not say what had caused the accident and gave no further details.

Pictures in the local media showed the lower platform of the trolley off its tracks and on its side with the entire upper carriage in rubble near a power pole on the steep, winding, cobblestone streets of the Santa Teresa neighborhood.

In June, a French tourist fell to his death after falling out of a similar trolley close to the station in downtown Rio