For sale: Company where 155 died

Electricity provider Verbund is selling its share in the Gletscherbahn Kaprun that was responsible for the worst winter sports tragedy in Austrian history when 155 people died.

The Gletscherbahn Kaprun disaster was a fire that occurred in an ascending railway car in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn 2 railway on 11 November 2000.

The disaster claimed the lives of 92 Austrians, 37 Germans, 10 Japanese, eight Americans, four Slovenians, two Dutch, one Czech and one British national, leaving just 12 survivors. The victims were skiers on their way to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier.

The sale is set to go through in June and Verbund director Wolfgang Anzengruber said: “Managing a ski resort is not part of the job of an electricity company.”

At the moment Verbund currently holds 45 per cent of Gletscherbahn Kaprun.

Verbund has put the sale price of 18 million Euros. The rest of the company is owned by the local council. The company employs 160 people.