Haider suffered serious injuries to his head and chest [Reuters]

Haider was driving his car  on Saturday in the south of Klagenfurt, when it veered off the road for unknown reasons.

The 58-year-old Haider was governor of Carinthia and leader of the far right Alliance for the Future of Austria.

"The governor of Carinthia and leader of the BZOe (Alliance for  Austria's Future), Joerg Haider died after a car accident early Saturday in Klagenfurt", Austria's APA news agency  said.

Haider headed the BZOe after turning the country's Freedom  Party (FPOe) into a political force in the 1980s and 1990s and  prompting EU sanctions against Austria in 2000.

He transformed from a young firebrand to an experienced politician in the past decade,  helping the  BZOe party, only founded in 2005, to its best  result in general elections held last month.

He suffered serious injuries to his head and chest as his car flipped over several times and died shortly after the accident.

He had been expected to attend a family celebration on Saturday, marking his mother's 90th birthday.

"For us this is the end of the world," Stefan  Petzner, the BZOe deputy leader, said.

Heinz Fischer, the Austrian president, described Haider's death as a "human tragedy".

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