Austria rescuers work through night

Helicopters have been carrying bodybags to a temporary mortuary

Austrian emergency teams have been working through the night to recover the bodies of at least 159 people who died in Saturday's fire in an Alpine train tunnel.

By late on Monday the remains of more than 60 victims had been taken away by helicopter to a temporary mortuary in a Salzburg airport hangar.

The rescuers are working in short bursts of 1.5 hours because of the physically and psychologically gruelling conditions.

Most of the dead are so badly burned that physical identification is impossible. Investigators hope to identify them by matching genetic material from the corpses with tissue on toothbrushes and razors of possible victims.

Photographers arrested

The Salzburg prosecutor's office has launched preliminary investigations into the disaster ahead of possible criminal charges.

Mourning relatives have been gathering in Kaprun

The cause of the blaze remains a mystery.

The policeman leading the rescue operation, Franz Lang, said the force of the fire was so great that the surroundings melted.

"We have to cut out, to dissect each victim," he said.

He added that two Swiss photographers trying to get pictures of the scene had been arrested.

About 110 recovery workers were at the scene on Monday.

Medical and psychiatric personnel were providing counselling for those unable to deal with the horrors inside the tunnel.

Falling rocks

Officials say it could take a week to complete the operation, and that DNA identification could take up to a month.

Ski train victims

92 Austrians

37 Germans

10 Japanese

8 Americans

4 Slovenians

2 Dutch

1 Briton

1 Czech

4 unidentified

Work has been hampered by falling rocks inside the tunnel, thought to be caused by the intense heat of the fire loosening stones from the inner walls.

Emergency lighting has been installed.

Most of the victims retrieved so far had escaped from the burning carriages of the train, only to die of asphyxiation amid the smoke and toxic fumes as they struggled to climb up through the tunnel.

Pulling bodies from the wreckage is expected to be more difficult. There are fears that what remains of the train is unstable, and could break loose.

Candles

A BBC correspondent in Kaprun, the town from which the train set out, says relatives have been gathering there to mourn their loss.

She says candles in memory of the dead flicker in the windows of a community which is asking what went wrong.

Emergency numbers for relatives

00 43 654 720 000

00 43 662 814 4300

Investigators say there is no evidence to support speculation about possible sabotage.

Austrian authorities have suspended the the services of the country's other Alpine funicular railways pending checks.

The French Government has also ordered a thorough review of all its funicular railways.

The train was pulled by a cable, and had no engine on board.

One theory is that the fire may have started before the single carriage train entered the 3.2km tunnel.