Thousands of people were forced to flee from Germany’s largest amusement park after it was engulfed by a huge fire at the weekend.
About 25,000 customers were rapidly evacuated before any of them suffered harm, but seven firefighters were injured as they battled the flames at Europa-Park, in the south west of the country.
The fire started early on Saturday evening in a storage building, but spread to the Pirates of Batavia boat ride and left it in cinders.
About 250 firefighters were sent to stem the inferno, as thick clouds of black smoke rose from the scene and flames soared 50ft into the air.
The crews finally managed to extinguish the fire yesterday morning.
Offenburg police later released a statement confirming that some firefighters had been “slightly injured”, but said all of them had been able to leave hospital.
Most of the park, in the town of Rust, was reopened by last night, but restaurants, stores and exhibits in the Dutch and Scandinavian-themed areas have been extensively damaged and remain closed.
Europa-Park’s chief executive, Michael Mack, said on Twitter that it had been a “sad day” for the park.
He added: “Although today was not the easiest day in our long history, I want to thank our hard-working and dedicated employees, and emergency services teams.”
Mr Mack also expressed his relief that none of the customers had been injured during the drama.
It is not known what caused the incident, and firefighters will remain at the 43-year-old park to make sure that it does not start up again.
The destroyed pirate ride was a water-based attraction, which opened in 1987.
Europa-Park is Europe’s second most popular amusement park after France’s Disneyland, and attracted around 5.7 million visitors last year.
