Yesterday, November 11, 2020, was the twentieth anniversary of the Kaprun disaster, where 155 people died in a train fire in a mountain tunnel. Journalists Hannes Uhl and Hubertus Godeysen investigated the accident and its aftermath and wrote a book – 155: Kriminalfall Kaprun – in 2014. They asked me to translate it into English and that translation is now available as an e-book. It came out a few days ago, just in time for the anniversary. I hope it will be of some benefit to people who lost relatives in the accident.
Not many people in the English-speaking world have heard of the Kaprun disaster but there were British and American tourists among the casualties. An entire American family was wiped out. There is a National Geographic documentary about it, although please note that it contains some inaccuracies about the cause of the fire that are corrected by the book.
Notes on the translation:
- The original book is written in the historic present, which is much more common in German than in English. Usually, I change it to the past tense for English translations, but in this case the present seemed appropriate for the style and subject matter.
- I translated it into British English the first time around and was then asked to Americanize it, so if you come across any stray British terms, that’s why.
- I am aware of one error: in chapter 37, I translated the German word Feder as “spring,” when it should have been “tongue.” I realized my mistake after translating the book’s website, but by then it was too late. I am sorry! It’s only one word out of 51,724, but unfortunately it was a rather important one.
If you are an expert on funicular railways or the Austrian legal system and you find other important errors, please write to me through my contact form on this website and let me know so it can be corrected in a future edition.
I hope people find the book readable and informative. It certainly was a privilege for me to work on it.