It was just after 18:00 on Wednesday when a carriage on Lisbon's famous Gloria funicular came around the bend of a steep cobblestoned street, crashed into a building, and crumpled, an eyewitness said.

"It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box," Teresa d'Avó told Portuguese television channel SIC, adding it seemed like it "had no brakes".

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash, which killed at least 17 people and injured 20 more, some critically, near Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade in the Portuguese capital.

Video verified by the BBC shows the crashed yellow-and-white train on the bend of a hill crumpled against the building, with another train stopped at the bottom. People are running up the incline towards the scene of the crash.

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Helen Chow, who is from Canada and was visiting Lisbon, was at the base of the Gloria Hill, from where the trams ascend to the Bairro Alto district, when she said she heard a loud screech.

One tram "made a hard stop, I saw black debris, heard the passengers on that tram screaming…the driver rushed to open the gates to the entrance of the tram," she told the BBC.

"People jumped out of the window of that tram... just as this happened, I saw the incident tram crash over into the building next to the Subway restaurant."

"It was awful… the sound was unlike anything I ever heard," she added. "I am shaken."

Ms d'Avó told Portuguese newspaper Observador the vehicle was "out of control, without brakes".

"We all started running away because we thought [the carriage] was going to hit the one below," she said. "But it fell around the bend and crashed into a building."

Eric Packer, from the US but visiting Lisbon on holiday, told the BBC he had discussed with his friends taking the cable car and took pictures at 18:00 and 18:01, but decided to walk back to their hotel instead.

They walked about 60 metres and heard a loud crash noise "like a rock falling, like a dump truck had dropped a load of rocks" at 18:02.

They turned around to see dust coming out of the alley about 45 metres (148ft) behind them and walked back to see what happened. At first, he thought it was the train at the bottom that fell, until he turned and saw the other train that was above it, and realised "the magnitude of what had taken place".

His photograph shows the yellow-and-white train, a tangle of metal, on the corner of the narrow alley under a Subway restaurant sign, with the other train at the bottom of the hill below it.

"People (were) walking up and running up to try and help," he said. "Horrible tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and survivors."

At least 32 people have died in Nigeria's northern Niger state after a boat sank in a river, an official has told the BBC.

The reportedly overloaded boat, said to have been carrying about 100 passengers including women and children, capsized when it struck a submerged tree stump on the River Niger in the Borgu area on Wednesday morning.

Abdullahi Baba Ara, the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) in the state, told BBC Hausa on Thursday that more than 50 other people had been rescued, with eight still missing.

Search operations are continuing.

Mr Ara said the government had set up a team of "water marshals" to stop boat operators from overloading their vessels and ensure passengers wear life jackets.

"Perhaps the water marshals were not on duty when this boat took off," he said, adding that investigations had started.

A local district head told the Reuters news agency that he had been at the scene soon after the accident.

"I was at the scene yesterday around 12 pm until 4 pm. The boat carried more than 100 people. We were able to recover 31 corpses from the river. The boat was also recovered and removed," Reuters quoted Sa'adu Inuwa Muhammad as saying.

Boat accidents are fairly common in Nigeria, often due to overloading, poor regulation and inadequate safety precautions.

About 25 people went missing last month after a boat accident in Sokoto state.

In December last year, 54 bodies were recovered from the River Niger after a boat that may have been carrying more than 200 passengers capsized.

The government has made it mandatory for water travellers to always wear life jackets, but this is often not enforced.

In February, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, set up a "Special Committee on the Prevention of Boat Mishaps in Nigeria", and in May the ministry announced that it would be distributing 42,000 life jackets across 12 riverine states in the country.

Later in the month, the National Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA) kicked off a campaign they called "No Life Jacket, No Travel", and "No Night Travelling" in Niger and Kwara states where boat accidents have occurred regularly in the recent past.

Niger state is Nigeria's largest by land mass and people tend to travel a lot by water as it is often the fastest and cheapest means of getting around.

More Nigeria stories from the BBC:

• More than 50 dead and dozens missing after Nigeria boat sinks
• Africa's patchy transport network gets a tech boost
• Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma for young Nigerians
• 'I thought I would die with my six children' - survivor of Nigeria dam collapse

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

One of Lisbon's most iconic tourist attractions, the Gloria funicular, derailed and crashed on Wednesday evening.

At least 15 people have been killed and 18 more injured, some critically, local authorities have said.

It is not yet clear what caused the carriage to derail.

Here's everything we know so far:

What have authorities said?

The crash occurred at around 18:05 on Wednesday, near Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade, according to local authorities.

More than 60 emergency service personnel and 22 vehicles were deployed to the scene.

Officials said it was too early to determine the cause of the incident. However, Portuguese newspaper Observador reported that a cable came loose along the railway's route, causing it to lose control and collide with a nearby building.

Images and footage from the scene the showed an overturned yellow carriage, which appeared almost entirely destroyed.

People could be seen fleeing the area on foot as smoke engulfed the cobbled street.

• At least 15 dead after Lisbon's historic funicular derails

What do we know about the casualties?

Portugal's emergency medical service authority said at least 15 people have been been killed and 18 others injured.

Five of those injured were in a serious condition, it said. The remaining thirteen, which included a child, sustained minor injuries.

Lisbon's mayor, Carlos Moedas, said the victims had been taken to hospital.

Some of those killed were foreign nationals, authorities said.

Several people trapped at the scene have since been freed, the medical authority said.

Who was onboard?

The Gloria funicular can carry up to 43 passengers and is extremely popular with tourists.

It is not known how many people were onboard at the time of the collision, however.

What is the Gloria funicular and how does it work?

A funicular is a type of railway system that allows travel up and down steep slopes.

In Lisbon, funiculars are among the most sought after tourist attractions. The bright yellow vehicles are a crucial means of navigating the city's steep, cobbled streets.

The Gloria funicular - the railway on which the collision took place - was opened in 1885 and electrified three decades later.

It travels some 275m (900ft) from Restauradores, a square in the centre of Lisbon, up to the picturesque streets of Bairro Alto. The journey takes just three minutes to complete.

Unlike traditional funiculars, the two cars on the Gloria funicular are powered by electric motors.

They are attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable meaning that as one travels downhill, its weight lifts the other, allowing them to ascend and descend simultaneously.

'Lisbon is in mourning'

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas has declared three days of municipal mourning for the victims of the incident.

Posting on X, he said: "I extend my heartfelt condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning."

Spain's Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez said he was "appalled by the terrible accident".

"All our affection and solidarity with the families of the victims and with the Portuguese people in this difficult moment," he wrote in a statement on X.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he "deeply regrets" the "fatalities and serious injuries" caused by the crash.

In a statement, he expressed his "condolences and solidarity with the families affected by this tragedy" and hoped for clarity around the incident from authorities soon.

Pedro Bogas from Carris, the Lisbon Tramways Company, told reporters it was a "very a sad day, not just for the victims but also for their families".

"We have strict protocols, excellent professionals for many years, and we need to get to the bottom of what happened," he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: "It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous Elevador da Glória. My condolences to the families of the victims."

President Donald Trump says the US has carried out a strike against a drug-carrying vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing 11 "Narcoterrorists".

He posted on social media that Tuesday's US military operation had targeted members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Trump said the vessel was in international waters and was transporting illegal narcotics bound for the US.

The Trump administration has ratcheted up military and political pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks, including through a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro has vowed Venezuela would fight any attempted US military intervention.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that US forces had "shot out" a "drug-carrying boat" in the vicinity of Venezuela.

"A lot of drugs in that boat," he said.

Trump added he had been briefed on the incident by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine.

Later the president posted on his Truth Social platform: "Earlier this morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility."

He added: "The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!"

His post was accompanied by a grainy aerial video showing a motor boat speeding across choppy waters before it bursts into flames.

In a social media post, Venezuela's Communications Minister, Freddy Nanez, suggested, without evidence, that the video shared by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that "today the US military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Carribean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation".

It is so far unclear what drugs the vessel was believed to have been carrying.

Since returning to the White House in January, the Trump administration has designated several drug-trafficking organisations and criminal groups in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America as terrorist organisations.

Among them are Tren de Aragua and another Venezuelan group the "Cartel of the Suns", which US authorities allege is headed by President Maduro and other high-ranking government officials, some drawn from the country's military or intelligence services.

The US military has moved to bolster its forces in the southern Caribbean over the last two months, including through the deployment of additional naval vessels and thousands of US Marines and sailors.

The Trump administration has repeatedly signalled a willingness to use force to stem the flow of drugs into the US.

"There's more where that came from," Trump said of the strike on the vessel.

Venezuela's government has reacted angrily to the deployments.

On Monday, for example, Maduro vowed to "declare a republic in arms" if the US attacked, adding that the American deployments are "the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years".