The controversial Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider was killed in a car accident today, two weeks after staging a comeback in national elections.
His car veered off the road near the southern city of Klagenfurt and overturned while trying to overtake another vehicle, according to police officials. There was no sign of foul play.
Haider, who was 58, suffered severe injuries to his head and chest and was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Haider was alone in the car at the time of the accident.
The populist Haider was governor of the province of Carinthia and leader of the far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria.
"For us, it's like the end of the world," Haider's spokesman, Stefan Petzner, told the Austria Press Agency.
The Austrian president, Heinz Fischer, described Haider's death as a "human tragedy."
In 1999, Haider received 27% of the vote in national elections as leader of the Freedom party. The party's subsequent inclusion in the government led to months of European Union sanctions as Haider's statements were seen as anti-Semitic.
Haider significantly toned down his rhetoric and in 2005 broke away from the Freedom party to form the new alliance, which was meant to reflect a turn toward relative moderation.
Last month Austria's far right took almost 30% of the vote in a parliamentary election, exploiting national discontent about immigration and squabbling mainstream governing parties.
Haider sought to distance himself from his right-wing past, which included a comment in 1991 that the Third Reich had an "orderly employment policy" and a 1995 reference to concentration camps as "the punishment camps of National Socialism".
He is survived by his wife, two daughters and his mother, whose 90th birthday he and his family had planned to celebrate over the weekend.