(Berlin) Around 25,000 visitors to Germany’s biggest amusement park, Europa-Park, near the French border, had to be evacuated on Monday following a fire that did not cause any injuries, police said local.
The fire broke out around 4:40 p.m. local time in a technical room in the park located in the town of Rust. AFP images show a thick, tall column of black smoke rising above the park.
More than 450 firefighters, law enforcement and emergency services have been dispatched to the park site, according to police, who say the evacuation went “smooth” and that early warning systems have worked correctly.
No information was immediately provided on the extent of the damage or the origin of the disaster. The German judicial police have opened an investigation. The park could reopen as early as Tuesday.
According to a local fire-fighting official, Bernhard Frei, interviewed by the German television channel Welt TV, the firefighters arrived between 3 and 4 minutes after the outbreak of the fire and were thus able to prevent it from starting. extends. He spoke of a “massive” operation needed to extinguish the flames.
The theme amusement park, located near the German cities of Freiburg im Breisgau and the French cities of Strasbourg, was opened in 1975.
According to its owners, it is visited by nearly six million people each year, making it one of the main ones in Europe.