Investigators admit train fire began outside tunnel

Austrian officials admitted for the first time yesterday that the alpine train consumed by a fire storm last Saturday was probably ablaze before it entered the tunnel in which 156 people died.

Austrian officials admitted for the first time yesterday that the alpine train consumed by a fire storm last Saturday was probably ablaze before it entered the tunnel in which 156 people died.

Christian Tisch, head of the police forensic team, said the burnt residue of a lubricant or plastic had been discovered on the track leading into the tunnel. He told reporters: "Soon after the departure of the train, and before it entered the tunnel, there may have been a fault which could have a connection with the fire."

There have been persistent claims from onlookers waiting at the station below and from survivors that smoke and subsequently fire were clearly visible as the vehicle headed towards the Kitzsteinhorn tunnel, above the resort of Kaprun.

Investigators had systematically dismissed them as "subjective accounts" by people in a state of confusion.

Mr Tisch said the burnt residue discovered on the track leading into the tunnel would require a thorough chemical analysis, but he added: "The material looks as though it may have dropped from the vehicle."

The new theory, which still fails to explain how an allegedly "fireproof" vehicle could go up in flames, shows the train could have been stopped outside the tunnel and the passengers told to disembark. Instead, it sped into the mountain and travelled on for another 600 metres, a journey lasting about a minute.

Technical experts believe neither the driver nor the controllers in the station then applied the brakes but that they came on automatically, bringing the train to a halt inside the tunnel.

Meanwhile, officials would not comment on reports that on its previous journey, the same train had made an emergency stop inside the tunnel. Austrian newspapers had speculated that there had been problems with the brakes, which would explain the leakage of lubricants or hydraulic fluids.

Even before the official report into the causes of the accident is published, it is already evident that certain safety measures will have to be tightened. The tunnel's escape passage was criticised for being too narrow and there have been calls to fit emergency lights. A second guard is expected to be placed in the empty cabin at the rear end of the train.

The investigators say they have found no evidence of flammable materials, such as fuel canisters, in the rear cabin. But some of the German survivors issued a joint statement yesterday saying they had heard two explosions as they fled.

The blasts apparently occurred after they managed to scramble out of the compartment and were running away. Soon afterwards, the funicular train's support cable snapped and sparks were sent shooting past them.

"Each one in the group was in panic, fearing that the burning train could break loose and crash down over our escape route," the statement said.

Police yesterday released the first video footage taken inside the tunnel since the inferno. It showed rescue workers winching up body bags. The search teams had recovered 128 bodies last night, out of the estimated 156, and hope to complete the work today.

The weather turned for the worst yesterday, bringing high winds and hampering the helicopters which carry the bodies to Salzburg. Forensic scientists in the nearby regional capital are trying to identify them using traces of DNA from toothbrushes and razors provided by relatives.