Seven years after the fire catastrophe in a cable car in Kaprun, Austria survivors and relatives of the 155 victims still have to wait for compensation payments.

A meeting held at Vienna's Justice Ministry on Tuesday between lawyers representing victims and their families and a mediating commission brought no conclusion after one lawyer walked out of the negotiations, initially refusing the terms offered.

Klaus Liebscher, head of the mediating commission said in a statement after the meeting that a "far-reaching, but still preliminary agreement" had been reached.

Involved parties were given time until December 14 to give their statement to the commission. First payments could be made by spring 2008, the commission said.

The settlement, awarding payment according to a points system based on the degree of relationship to the victim, also prescribes an end to all pending civil lawsuits. The out-of-court settlement is only possible with the agreement of all involved parties.

The commission had pressured the victims to immediately decide whether to accept a total compensation sum of 13.4 million euros (19.38 million dollars), Gerhard Podosovnik, a lawyer representing 10 victims said.

"That would mean about 32,000 euros per person, a ridiculous sum," Podosovnik, who quit the meeting, said.

One of his clients - a German survivor of the catastrophe - criticized the victims' exclusion from the talks and lack of information about the conditions attached to their accepting the settlement.

On 11 November 2000, a cable car transporting skiers to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier caught fire in a tunnel, causing 155 people to lose their lives.

The victims either burnt to death in the cable car or suffocated when attempting to flee the tunnel. Only 12 passengers survived the disaster.

Among the victims were 92 Austrians, 37 Germans, 10 Japanese and eight US citizens. Two trials in Austria against 16 defendants - the cable car operators, train manufacturers and government officials led to acquittals of all defendants. Court proceedings in the United States brought no decision to date.

The fire had been caused by a defective heating unit, that, as victims' representatives argued, had not been suitable for installation in a vehicle.