Motorbike museum in Austrian Alps goes up in flames

BERLIN – Fire investigators picked their way through the charred remains of a motorbike museum in the Austrian Alps on Tuesday, searching for clues to the cause of the blaze that destroyed more than 200 exhibition pieces, many of them collectors’ items.

The fire early Monday at the Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum in Obergurgl gutted the modern building that has become a magnet for bikers crossing the Alps since it was opened in 2016.

“The state of the museum, well as you can see it’s basically gone,” Matthias Klotz of the Gurgl fire service told Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Police said staff at the museum, located at an altitude of 2171 metres (7,123 feet) above sea level, were powerless to tackle the blaze when it broke out shortly before 5 a.m. Monday.

Firefighters were eventually able to contain the blaze and nobody was injured in the fire.