Ski train tunnel blaze trial starts

SIXTEEN people accused of causing a devastating fire on a train at an Austrian ski resort go on trial today.

Some 155 people from eight countries died above the resort of Kaprun on 11 November, 2000. They included a British ski instructor, a 19-year-old German freestyle ski champion and her parents, a group of Japanese skiers and 32 people from the Austrian town of Wels.

Investigators concluded that as they boarded the funicular train to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier on the crisp and clear winter morning, a defective fan-heater in the empty rear driver’s cabin had already overheated.

Oil that had leaked from nearby hydraulic cables then caught fire and shortly after the train entered the mountain tunnel it ground to a halt. Twelve passengers at the rear forced open a small window, clambered out and fled back down the tunnel to safety.

When the train doors opened several minutes later, the remaining passengers headed upwards, but were soon engulfed by fumes and flames. Their remains were found on the narrow stairway beside the train. Many could only be identified by DNA samples.

The toxic fumes were so dense that the driver and a passenger in a train heading down the mountain also suffocated, as did three people in the station at the top of the tunnel.

Those on trial include staff of the Kaprun Glacier Lift Company; the heating and cable suppliers; and workers at the transport ministry. Thirteen are charged with causing the fire and three face the lesser charge of endangering the public.

The trial will focus on issues surrounding the installation and upkeep of the heater and on why passengers had no access to a fire extinguisher and were not able to operate the train doors manually. The presiding judge, Manfred Seiss, is promising the proceedings "will bring light into the darkness of the Kaprun tunnel".

In the run-up to the trial the accused parties have pointed the finger at each other. But Gustl Prohaczka, who lost his 25-year-old son, Martin, hopes guilt will be clearly apportioned: "Heads shouldn’t roll. But there’s a difference between five years [the maximum sentence] and an acquittal."

Many of the victims’ relatives are also planning civil proceedings. The American lawyer Ed Fagan, known for bringing high-profile class-action suits, argues that since eight Americans died, compensation claims can be heard in the US. While legal experts doubt this will happen, Jrgen Hinterwirth, Mr Fagan’s Austrian colleague, says it would be "grossly negligent" not to check whether US courts would accept jurisdiction: "We’re talking about huge sums of money."