Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 11 October 2008
- He allegedly had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 per mille. He was driving at a speed of at least 142 km/h near the small town of Lambichl, five kilometers south of Klagenfurt, when his car veered off the road, flipped over, and caused Heider's death. The speed limit on that stretch of the road was only 70 km/h.
This day in 2008 marked the death of Jörg Haider, governor of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia (Kärnten).
Haider was a very popular, but controversial politician. He was at first a member of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ – Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs), but in 2005 he founded a new party called the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ – Bündnis Zukunft Österreich).
Haider’s death took place only 13 days after the Austrian parliamentary elections, in which his party won 21 seats in the National Council of Austria – a record result (this was three times as many as at the previous elections).
On this day in 2008, Haider was driving a government-owned Volkswagen Phaeton on the road near Klagenfurt, on his way to visit his mother, who was celebrating her 90th birthday. He allegedly had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 per mille. He was driving at a speed of at least 142 km/h near the small town of Lambichl, five kilometers south of Klagenfurt, when his car veered off the road, flipped over, and caused Heider’s death. The car was severely damaged. The speed limit on that stretch of the road was only 70 km/h.
After his death, various scandals linked to Haider surfaced. Some are linked to the Hypo Group Alpe Adria banking group, and there are claims that Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein transferred large amounts of money to accounts in that bank.
