Memorial for Austria Cable Car Victims

National leaders, rescue workers and hundreds of others packed Salzburg's cathedral Friday for a Mass to mourn the 155 skiers and snowboarders who died when a cable car caught fire inside an Alpine mountain tunnel.

Beside the altar of the 17th-century cathedral stood a cross with 155 red roses at its base, all placed there by the rescuers who had the grim task of recovering the dead. Solemn music by Brahms and Mendelssohn underlined the somber mood.

The Mass began at the exact hour when, six days ago, despairing rescue workers emerged from the tunnel inside Kitzsteinhorn mountain and acknowledged there was no longer any hope for the passengers trapped by the inferno.

"It's as if someone wanted to make us conscious that in the midst of joy, warmth, relaxation, and spending time together, there is the always the possibility for the opposite extreme," said Salzburg Gov. Franz Schausberger.

"We know even more clearly since last weekend how small we are as human beings, and how wrong it is to trust completely in technology," he said.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the funicular railway car to catch fire. Police are analyzing a lubricant — believed to be hydraulic fluid — found on the railway leading to the tunnel to see whether it might have played a role in the blaze.

The disaster was the worst accident ever in the Austrian skiing industry.

Austrian President Thomas Klestil, Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined rescue workers, who attended the service in red and gold uniforms that stood out boldly across pews of mourners dressed in black.

Among those believed killed were 92 Austrians, 37 Germans, 10 Japanese, eight Americans; four Slovenes, two Dutch, one Briton and one Czech.

Klestil addressed the mothers, fathers, wives and children of the victims, acknowledging their anguish.

"No other accident in Austria has unleashed such an outpouring of nationwide sadness, grief and willingness to help," he said.

"Following the disaster on Kitzsteinhorn, our country and its authorities must make it their immediate task to do everything they can to prevent a similar situation from ever happening in the future," he added.

The Mass was broadcast live on Austrian national television. During the communion service of the ceremony, state television scrolled the names of the dead, many of whom were children and teen-agers.

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