Update: The replies to this node point to the case being genuine. You can ignore this node.
Is this a hoax designed to get people to donate to a bogus fund? I find myself looking at a web site that fits all of the criteria of a hoax. A great deal of information designed to enrage you (after all it could happen to you) but little in the way of independently verifiable fact. This has a number of parallels with virus hoaxes.
Has anyone been able to verify the facts through a source that isn't connected with GeeksUnite.net? According to Chip's journal he is enjoying himself in Austria.