Vienna  - Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider was drunk when he died in a car crash last Saturday, Stefan Petzner, his successor as head of the Alliance for the Future of Austria, said Wednesday.

Haider was driving at 142 kilometres per hour, more than double the speed limit, when his car veered off the road and flipped over in Klagenfurt, the capital of the Carinthia province where he was governor.

Forensic experts have determined that at the time of the accident, Haider's blood alcohol level was 0.18 per cent, almost four times the legal limit of 0.05 per cent, Petzner said. (dpa)