Kaprun disaster

The Kaprun disaster is the fire that broke out in the tunnel of the funicular train in Kaprun, Austria on November 11, 2000.

In this disaster 155 passengers lost their lives. Nearly one year after the fire the official inquiry determined the cause of the disaster - it was a faulty heater in the train and highly flammable hydraulic brake oil.

The train (white) can be seen waiting at the valley station. It enters the tunnel where the fire occurred (entrance just visible as a black dot) after a short open-air section on trestles. Larger version

The victims were skiers who wanted to reach the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier :

• 92 Austrians
• 37 Germans
• 10 Japanese
• 8 Americans
• 4 Slovenians
• 2 Dutch
• 1 Briton
• 1 Czech