Police probe fires at Europa park

By Martin Oversohl and Mirjam Uhrich, dpa

 

BERLIN – A fire at Germany’s largest amusement park – the Europa Park – was most likely caused by a technical defect, police said on Tuesday, although it will take several weeks to make a final assessment.

The Europa park reopened to visitors a day after the fire sent huge black plumes of smoke billowing over the site.

All attractions and hotels at the 95-hectare Europa Park in south-western Germany are open as usual, apart from the fire-affected area, a park spokeswoman said.

The blaze erupted on Monday afternoon in a technical room of the indoor walk-through attraction “Magic World of Diamonds,” which features animatronic dwarves working in a diamond mine and a dragon. A log flume ride and a roller coaster pass through the area.

Safety mechanisms such as fire detectors and alarms had worked as planned, said police.
More than 450 firefighters, police officers and other emergency responders were deployed the park, located near Freiburg by the French border.

Two firefighters were slightly injured. Around 25,000 people were in Europa Park when the fire broke out. The visitors were asked to leave in an orderly manner and none were injured.