http://www.boston.com/dailynews/299/world/Rescuers_start_salvage_work_in:.shtml

Rescuers start salvage work in Gotthard tunnel, final toll still unknown

By Gabriella Broggi, Associated Press, 10/26/2001 10:02

AIROLO, Switzerland (AP) With the blaze finally extinguished inside the longest highway tunnel in the Alps, work crews began installing braces Friday to hold up the weakened tunnel roof that was at the heart of the inferno.

Engineers had secured 160 yards of a 270-yard stretch near the site in Switzerland's Gotthard Tunnel where two trucks collided Wednesday, setting off the blaze. They said it may not be safe enough to send in forensic experts to examine charred vehicles and look for bodies until Monday.

Eleven people were confirmed dead from the fire, and the toll was expected to rise. Some 120 travelers had been reported missing, but authorities said the high number reflected duplication, with worried people phoning separate hotlines in different Swiss states.

Romano Piazzini, the Ticino state police chief, said a truck driver from Luxembourg reported seeing ''many people'' in the part of the tunnel subsequently consumed by flames and temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Piazzini said it was unclear how many died.

The disaster happened after a northbound truck veered out of control and collided with a southbound truck carrying tires. The tires caught fire and filled the tunnel with noxious fumes.

Piazzini said ten bodies had been recovered from the tunnel. Most had suffocated. The remains of the eleventh known victim the driver of the truck that caused the disaster had not yet been found.

Piazzini said 15 vehicles were believed to be in the worst-affected part of the tunnel, near its southern entrance, and that in all about 100 vehicles had been abandoned in the tunnel. He said the police would publish a list of license plates to try to speed identification.

Four of the people confirmed dead were German and two were French. Switzerland and Italy each counted one victim. The nationalities of the three others were not immediately known.

A prolonged closure of the 10.6-mile Gotthard Tunnel would deprive Europe of a crucial transportation artery. The tunnel is used by 1.2 million trucks and millions of cars traveling between Germany and Italy each year.

Another key route, the Mont Blanc Tunnel between France and Italy, has been shut since a March 1999 fire that killed 39 people.

Swiss officials said alternative mountain passes simply cannot handle the anticipated surge in traffic and called for urgent talks with the European Commission about diverting traffic through neighboring France and Austria. Officials at the nearby Simplon Pass said the number of trucks using the route had tripled since the closure of the Gotthard.

Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger, who is also transport minister, appealed to foreign drivers Thursday to avoid passing through Switzerland.

Switzerland is not a member of the 15-nation European Union, but lies at its geographical heart. Transport issues, especially Swiss limits on heavy trucks, have long been a point of contention between Switzerland and its neighbors.

French transport experts hurried to Switzerland, hoping to learn lessons in advance of the planned reopening of the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

French Environment Minister Yves Cochet told a Paris newspaper he did not envisage the reopening of the Mont Blanc before the causes of the Gotthard disaster were clearly established.

Safety improvements in the Mont Blanc tunnel have been largely modeled on the Gotthard Tunnel, which has an emergency foot tunnel with independent lighting, air supply and exits running alongside the road.

A Swiss government team reported last year that there were no safety reasons for a second highway tunnel to separate northbound from southbound traffic, as demanded by the road transport industry.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2001