Speeding was cause for Haider's fatal accident

Klagenfurt: The car crash that killed prominent Austrian right-wing politician and the governor of Carinthia state, Jorg Haider, on Saturday happened well over the legal speed limit.

Austrian police confirmed yesterday that Haider had been driving at 142km/hour instead of the legal 70 km/hour through a small village near the southern Austrian town of Klagenfurt.

State prosecutor Gottfried Kranzl said Haider lost control of his Volkswagen Phaeton while overtaking another car and crashed into a concrete pillar, causing the car to roll over several times.

Haider died at the scene after suffering "multiple" head and chest injuries, doctors of Klagenfurt's central hospital said.

In Carinthia, some of Haider's staunch followers are still reluctant to buy the official version that the governor died in a car accident. Conspiracy theories have emerged, blaming minorities or political foes for tampering with Haider's car.

Car checked

"There is no evidence whatsoever that the governor's car has been sabotaged or manipulated," an Austrian police official said yesterday.

The car had undergone checks by experts and was "technically absolutely OK", he said.

Details about the Haider's funeral arrangement are still not clear but, at the spot where the accident happened, people continued to pay their last respects, leaving flowers and lighted candles.

On the political front, Austria's two right-wing parties, Haider's BZO and the FPO, which he left a few years ago, are looking at forging a common front.

Commentators see Haider's death as the "removal of an obstacle" for a new right-wing alliance in Austria.

General elections held a few weeks ago left Austria in a state of immense political flux with no party getting a clear mandate but the dominant Social Democrats have ruled out any cooperation with the right-wing movement.