$21m settlement reached for alpine cable-car fire

Relatives of 155 people who died when fire raged through a crowded alpine cable car in 2000 will share 13.9 million euros ($21.5 million) in compensation, Austrian authorities announced yesterday.

The settlement ends more than seven years of legal wrangling that stemmed from Austria's worst peacetime disaster. A total of 451 claimants will split the settlement.

Klaus Liebscher, governor of the Austrian Central Bank and chairman of a compensation commission, said the money would be paid out immediately.