DNA test to identify ski train victims

Friends grieve for their loved ones

KAPRUN, Austria (CNN) -- Relatives of 159 victims of the Austrian ski resort cable-train tragedy have been asked to provide personal items belonging to the deceased to help with DNA identification of the remains.

Austrian officials said most of the 66 bodies so far recovered were so badly burned, the remains would require DNA testing and that it would take at least three days to get the results of each test.

They have asked relatives to provide them with items -- particularly toiletries such as toothbrushes, combs and razors -- that can be used to identify the victims by DNA.

Forensic experts are hoping minute particles of tissue and hair on the personal belongings will match samples from the remains of those killed.

REFERENCE Austrian train disaster   •  Graphic: How it happened   •  Survivor's tale   •  Ski champion dead   •  Video: Disaster   •  Video: Recovery   •  Press review   •  Search for clues   •  Accidents in Europe    VIDEO A doctor who treated survivors recounts their experiences during the fire Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Nation in mourning as recovery work continues, reports CNN's Chris Burns Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Chris Burns reports on rescue efforts in Kaprun, Austria Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Austrians in a state of mourning as grim recovery work gets underway, reports CNN's Chris Burns (November 12) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO "Go downwards, Go downwards!" A hero triumphs over terror. 0.97 MB / 93 seconds AIFF or WAV sound

About 60 family members were in Kaprun, being helped by government officials.

The intensity of the fire left the bodies badly charred and even tattoos and scars could no longer be seen, chief forensic pathologist Edith Tutsch-Bauer said.

"Because of the heat that built up in the tunnel and the loss of fluids, identification by external appearance is no longer possible for relatives," Tutsch-Bauer said.

The bodies recovered so far were found 60 meters above the train. Officials said they were trying to escape when they were overcome by the intense smoke.

The fire began in the rear of the train and investigators have not yet been able to rule out any potential cause for the inferno.

Helicopters hoisted body bags from the site on Monday to an airport hangar, which is serving as a temporary morgue, 50 miles away in Salzburg.

Rescue officials said among those dead were 92 Austrians, 37 Germans, one Briton, 10 Japanese, two Dutch, one Czech, eight Americans, and four Slovenes. The death toll was expected to go higher.

The U.S. Army Public Affairs office in Europe said the Americans fatalities were three Army soldiers stationed in Germany and five family members. They had been in Austria with two ski groups organised for military personnel and their families.

They included a family of four, including two children, and a couple, both U.S. Army members, who became engaged last week.

Also among the dead were German ski champion Sandra Schmitt and her parents, the Bavarian Interior Ministry said.

Schmitt was 1999 freestyle skiing world champion and had finished ninth at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

The tunnel scene was a melted morass filled with bodies. Major Franz Lang, the officer in charge of the rescue operations, said the rescue teams were having "to cut out, to dissect, each victim."

Bodies and remains were stuck among parts of the melted train, ski clothes, boots and other equipment. The floor of the train melted, in temperatures estimated at over 1,000 degrees centigrade.

There were reports of a man with an aluminum container, possibly a gas canister, on the train. There were also reports that the train was burning when it entered the tunnel, but officials could not confirm either report.

Freestyle skiing champion Sandra Schmitt died with her parents

About 250 rescuers have been divided into teams of 10 people, with each team working in the tunnel for 90 minutes

Psychologists are on hand to help the recovery crews deal with the horrors of the grim recovery operation.

Flames engulfed the train's single carriage as it was traveling uphill to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier, a popular ski and snow-boarding site, on Saturday -- the opening day of the region's ski season.

Officials said 18 people survived -- 12 who saved themselves from the cable car by breaking a window with a ski and six who had been waiting at the top of the tunnel. One of them remains seriously ill in hospital.

Most of the victims apparently managed to escape the car but were killed by fumes while trying to run up narrow stairs leading out of the tunnel, the cable car's head technician Manfred Mueller said.

Those who were on the train but survived apparently ran the opposite way, avoiding most of the choking smoke which was being blown upward through the tunnel by strong drafts.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

First bodies recovered at ski train disaster
November 13, 2000
Recovery work begins in wake of Austrian rail fire
November 12, 2000
Austria train blaze: 170 feared dead
November 11, 2000

Kaprun Cable Car Company
Europa-Sportregion Kaprun & Zell am See
Republic of Austria

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.