PJ police in Lisbon are today hunting the taxi driver who drove off after one of his passengers fell to his death on Lisbon’s “2º Circular” highway. Rui Dibuela, 22, was on his way to the airport to fly to Angola when he is understood to have mistakenly opened the passenger door, and been “spat” out of the vehicle. The incident took place in the early hours of Monday morning.
According to press reports, Dibuela – a flight steward with Angolan airline TAAG – was in the taxi with his girlfriend.
At some point, the driver appears to have got into a discussion with another taxi driver – resulting in “braking and rapid accelerations”.
During one of these, as the taxi passed Lisbon’s Benfica stadium, Dibuela is described as having opened the door, possibly deciding to get out.
Instead, he was ejected from the vehicle as the taxi accelerated – leaving his girlfriend “terrorised”.
The woman is described as “only managing to get out of the taxi a kilometre further on”.
By the time she reached her boyfriend, he was in a critical condition and despite medical attention, he died later at Hospital de Santa Maria’s reanimation unit.
Time of death was recorded as 4am.
The taxi driver – who could face charges of negligent homicide and failure to provide help to a victim – is being sought through CCTV images of traffic on the busy road on Monday night.
Meantime, Dibuela’s colleagues at TAAG are reported to be in shock over the tragedy.
