M A I N   N E W S

172 killed in Austrian train blaze

VIENNA, Nov 11 (AP, Reuters) — About 172 persons died today when a train transporting skiers to a glacier resort in Austria caught fire, the Governor of Salzburg province said.

Governor Franz Schausberger told reporters in Salzburg that only eight persons could save themselves from the burning train, which was apparently full with 180 persons.

None of the skiers trapped on the blazing train in a tunnel in the Austrian Alps was believed to have survived, Austria’s Orf television quoted the Governor as saying.

Eight persons had escaped, the Orf said.

An Orf reporter quoted Provincial Governor Franz Schausberger as saying that all of those on the train, believed to have been carrying up to 180 persons, were thought to have died of asphyxiation.

“He left us in no doubt that very very many people died, that apart from the eight persons who managed to escape, all are believed to have suffocated,” the reporter said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Violence flares up in Gaza, 7 hurt

GAZA CITY, Nov 11 (AFP) — At least two Israeli soldiers and five Palestinians were injured in a gunbattle and separate clashes that flared up in the Gaza Strip today as thousands joined funeral processions for the latest victims of the deadly six-week Intifada or Palestinian uprising.

The army said two soldiers were injured when a military patrol came under Palestinian fire near the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier, five Palestinians were shot and wounded during clashes between stone-throwing demonstrators and Israeli troops near Erez, the main crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel, witnesses said.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Gaza City and the nearby Jabalia refugee camp for the funerals of two Palestinians killed in separate clashes yesterday.

Gunmen fired into the air as the crowds carried the bodies, draped in Palestinian flags, through the streets, chanting “revenge, revenge.”