BBC News | EUROPE | Five killed in Austria tunnel fire

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Tuesday, 7 August, 2001, 02:15 GMT 03:15 UK

Five killed in Austria tunnel fire

Fire officers battled through the smoke-filled tunnel

Five people, including two children, have been killed and four injured after a car crash sparked a fire in a tunnel north of the Austrian city of Graz.

The incident took place shortly after 1500 local time (1300 GMT) in the middle of the 8km-long Gleinalm tunnel.

It appears that two cars crashed head on.

Fire officers wearing breathing apparatus succeeded in extinguishing the fire. The motorway was blocked off in both directions.

The Gleinalm tunnel was officially classed as being "at risk" after an international safety inspection in 1999, but since then ATS22m ($1.4m) has been spent on improvements.

Fatal fires

This is the latest in a series of fatal tunnel fires.

Kaprun fire scene
Last year, 155 people died in the tunnel of a funicular railway at the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun.

And a year earlier, 12 people lost their lives in the Tauern road tunnel fire.

In the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999, 39 people lost their lives.

Related to this story:
Austria remembers ski train victims (17 Nov 00 | Europe) Austria blaze fans tunnel safety fears (11 Nov 00 | Europe) Tunnel blaze report highlights failings (08 Jul 99 | Europe)

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