Baden-Wuerttemberg
Fire broke out in Europa-Park Rust
Smoke over Europa-Park Rust. photo
© Moritz Panter/dpa
A dense column of smoke hangs over Europa-Park, Germany’s largest amusement park. Many rescue workers are on duty. The fire brings back bad memories.
A fire broke out in the Europa Park in Rust on Monday afternoon. The police reported in the evening of a locally limited fire. “The fire is currently being fought by a large number of firefighters and is under control,” officials said.
All visitors are about to leave the largest amusement park in Germany – located north of Freiburg – in an orderly manner. “Currently nothing is known about injured people.” A column of smoke could be seen from afar. A park spokeswoman confirmed the fire.
According to an eyewitness, the “Magic World of Diamonds” attraction is affected – where the Alpenexpress and the wild water course operate, he told the German Press Agency. The park informed the short message service Twitter that an incident had occurred. “We work closely with the responsible authorities and emergency services.” The police tweeted that forces from the fire brigade, rescue service and police were in action. “Please follow the instructions of the emergency services on site,” the officials appealed.
Six million visitors
Europa-Park is Germany’s largest amusement park. Last year, more than six million people came to the facility with roller coasters and other attractions in the Ortenau district near the German-French border – that was a record.
There had already been a major fire there on May 26, 2018: Most of the thematic areas of Scandinavia and Holland had fallen victim to the flames. Restaurants, shops and the “Pirates in Batavia” ride were destroyed. According to the public prosecutor, the fire was caused by a technical defect and caused millions in damage.
Seven police and firefighters were slightly injured. Around 500 women and men were involved in the operation. There were around 25,000 visitors to the amusement park that day. More than two years later “Pirates in Batavia” was reopened.
It was only at the beginning of this month that there was a fire in the Karls Erlebnis-Dorf amusement park near Berlin. Several buildings in an area of around 400 square meters in Elstal, Brandenburg, were on fire, ten people were injured, and according to the fire brigade there was property damage in the “six-digit range”. The operation of the amusement park was resumed the following day.