Victims' relatives, friends mark first
anniversary of Austrian cable car fire
By Marni McEntee,
Stars and Stripes
Photo courtesy of Steve Habblett
The charred rubble of a ski cable car rests in a tunnel in Kaprun, Austria, a few days
after the accident. |
SALZBURG, Austria — Steve Habblett will never forget Nov. 11.
On that date one year ago, two generations of Habblett’s family were wiped out in
a ski cable car blaze at a resort in Kaprun.
Habblett’s daughter Jennifer, 35, her husband, Army Maj. Michael C. Goodridge, 36,
and their two sons, Michael, 7, and Kyle, 5, were killed when the car caught fire as it
inched up a two-mile-long tunnel.
Another 151 people died in the blaze, including four other Americans from U.S. military
communities in Germany.
On Sunday, Habblett, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and his wife, Sue, will join
others on the Austrian mountain where their loved ones died a year ago. They plan to walk
from the village into the Alps, stopping at the base of the tunnel for a memorial service.
It will be a difficult walk, both emotionally and physically, survivors said. Some will
have to be driven along the six-mile route and others might not be able to cope with
seeing the scene of the disaster.
"This is a hard day for them," said Ed Fagan, an attorney representing more
than 80 people in a lawsuit against the lift’s builders, operators and others.
While Americans honor those who served during wartime on Veterans Day, the Habbletts
and other survivors will remember their own loved ones.
Perhaps, Sue Habblett said, the gathering will provide a sense of closure to a tragedy
that has tainted so many lives.
"Coming to Austria helps me and hurts me," Steve Habblett, 61, said Friday.
"It helps me because I know that I can help some of the other people who have lost
children and other loved ones."
His wife agreed.
"We have one thing in common. We lost children and husbands and mothers in that
train, and it was unnecessary," she said.
Photo courtesy Steve Habblett
The last family portrait of Army Maj. Michael Goodridge, his wife Jennifer
and their sons Kyle, left, and Michael, all of whom died in the Kaprun fire. |
Despite failing health, Steve Habblett is making his seventh trip to Austria since the
fire. He is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, often serving as a spokesman on behalf of
other plaintiffs. He also is an outspoken advocate of making ski areas using similar cable
cars off-limits to American military members.
It is a full-time job, he said. When he is not traveling from his Sun City, Fla., home
to Europe, he is researching the law, reading local newspapers and lobbying the military
for changes.
"I decided to finish this or die first," Habblett said during a trip to
Austria in early September. As he talked and looked at photographs of his family,
Habblett’s eyes welled with tears and his voice cracked.
"There are too many emotions. Too many unknowns," he said.
Fagan said the search for some kind of justice may be the only thing keeping Steve
Habblett going.
"They took everything from him," Fagan said. "Finding the answers is the
only thing that will bring him peace."
It may take years to settle the case, Fagan said. He hopes to have a resolution sooner.
The eight Americans killed that November morning had traveled to Kaprun with two
military-affiliated ski clubs for a weekend on Kaprun’s Kitzsteinhorn glacier. The
glacier offers some of the earliest and latest skiing during the season.
The Americans were on one of the first trains up the mountain. The train left the
station at about 9 a.m.
Minutes later, the cable pulling the packed train snapped and the two cars caught fire
with most of the skiers trapped inside. Twelve people managed to escape the tunnel; the
others succumbed to the toxic smoke billowing from the blaze.
Stars and Stripes file photo
Ben Filkil, seen here competing in a cross country meet in October, 2000, was
one of the Americans killed in the fire. |
Among the Americans killed were 1st Lt. Erich R. Kern, 25, and his fiancée 2nd Lt.
Carrie L. Baker, 23. Kern was assigned to the 30th Medical Brigade’s 421st Air
Evacuation Battalion in Wiesbaden. Baker was assigned to the brigade’s 523rd Dental
Services Company in Giebelstadt.
In addition, Paul A. Filkil, 46, and his son Ben, 15, who lived in the Kaiserslautern
area, died in the fire. Ben Filkil was a studious and athletic teen-ager, who thrived on
cross-country running and skiing with his dad.
Habblett’s son-in-law Michael was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division’s 4th
Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery in Kitzingen.
Jennifer Goodridge’s remains were found enveloping one of her sons just outside a
cable car door. Most of the victims were burned beyond recognition. Investigators
identified most of the dead using DNA analysis.
A report issued in early September by Austrian authorities said the fire started when a
faulty hydraulic system leaked fluid onto a portable heater in the conductor’s cabin.
The Habbletts’ lawsuit claims that the part of the train was made of highly
flammable plastic and was quickly engulfed in fire. It also claims that there was no fire
extinguisher on board; that the skiers could not easily open the car’s doors or kick
out the windows; and that the tunnel had no lighting or viable escape routes. In addition,
emergency tunnel doors that were supposed to close during a fire — to prevent the air
from feeding any flames — failed to operate. The fire and toxic smoke rushed up the
tunnel to the station on the upper side, killing three people inside the Alpine Center
near the tunnel exit.
The families left behind are bitter about the accident because they believe it could
have been prevented, the Habbletts said. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 21 in a U.S. District
Court in New York, claims lift manufacturer Leitner Lifts USA Inc. and several other
defendants were negligent in the operation, maintenance and safety standards set.
"It never should have happened. They were dead before they ever got on that
train," Sue Habblett said.
In many ways, the tragedy has united friends and families of victims from a half-dozen
countries. Germans, Slovenians, Japanese, Austrians, Dutch and Czechs have joined the
lawsuit.
Photo courtesy of Steve Habblett
Retired Army Lt. Col. Steve Habblett sits with daughter Jennifer and grandsons Kyle, left,
and Michael in this family photograph. |
Many of the victims’ families were involved in the ski business themselves. Uschi
Geiger’s son Sebastian, 14, had been a champion skier in the region. Geiger, of
Ruhlpalding, Germany, operated a ski-rental business.
Bettina Roiatti’s son Massimo, 13, was Sebastian’s teammate and competitor.
Irmi Guggenbichler’s daughter Babsi, 13, was on the same ski team.
Anneliese Ferstl’s husband, Franz, 50, ran a ski school in Germany and was a
champion skier himself.
The four German women had felt lost before they met Steve Habblett, they said. Like
him, they all had suffered severe depression and, at times, hospitalization after the
accident. Only people who have lost a loved one can truly empathize, they said.
"When we met Steve, there was such a good connection," Geiger said.
"Everybody understands and you don’t have to talk so much because you
understand."
Fighting those believed responsible can at times be unbearable, they said, because they
must re-live the pain over and over again. But together, they say, they may be able to do
something to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring.
Guggenbichler said she joined the lawsuit in hopes of ensuring "that never again a
child has to burn to death in a train."
Click here for an index of
Stripes' coverage of the cable car fire.
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