Defective coach

Coincidence prevents tunnel fire inferno on the A11

Shortly before entering the Karawanken tunnel, a coach caught fire on Tuesday afternoon. Despite its desolate condition, the driver had wanted to transfer the behemoth weighing several tons from Germany via Austria to Slovenia. 

The emergency services from Asfinag, the police and the fire department could not believe their eyes when they had to deploy to an operation in front of the Karawanken Tunnel portal on Tuesday afternoon. A coach, which was to be transferred from Germany to Slovenia via Austria, had stopped there shortly after the toll station and caught fire.

Bus driver did not drive through thermoscanner!
"It was nothing short of a miracle that the bus came to a standstill before the tunnel for technical reasons. The driver, who was fortunately traveling alone as it was a transfer journey, avoided the prescribed thermal scanner before the Karawanken tunnel, which would have detected the overheating in the engine and thus the danger," explains Hubert Madritsch, commander of the St. Jakob im Rosental fire brigade.

(Bild: FF. St. Jakob / Sobe)

(Bild: FF. St. Jakob / Sobe)

(Bild: FF. St. Jakob / Sobe)

The monster weighing several tons miraculously came to a halt just before the tunnel portal, as the engine overheated and subsequently caught fire. Asfinag employees and police officers were able to contain the fire with hand-held fire extinguishers. The driver was also able to save himself.

Disaster averted
The St. Jakob fire department carried out extinguishing work. Fire brigade commander Madritsch: "If the bus had driven just a few hundred meters further - and thus into the tunnel - the situation would have looked very different." Further investigations are underway.