Germany‘s biggest theme park will reopen to visitors on Tuesday after a large fire the day before sent a dense plume of black smoke billowing into the sky that was visible for miles.
The Europa-Park in the town of Rust, near the French border, was to open with only minor restrictions after the blaze Monday, the German news agency dpa reported.
The fire broke out in a control room for an attraction on Monday afternoon at a time when some 25,000 people were visiting the park.
Fire alarms functioned properly and the park was evacuated as some 450 firefighters, police and emergency personnel rushed to the scene, dpa reported. Two firefighters were lightly injured but no visitors were harmed.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the area directly around the scene will remain closed while the rest of the park is reopened, officials said.
Europa-Park is a popular tourist destination that drew more than 6 million visitors last year, mostly from Germany, France and Switzerland.
It has areas with themes based on different European countries, and three based on fantasy settings. The park also hosts conferences and is a popular venue for events and television productions.
Globally, the theme park industry hit a peak in 2019, the year before the spread of the Covid-19 virus forced many parks and attractions to shut down temporarily and then reopen with restrictions on attendance. Many operators focused on improving visitor experiences through adapting app-based technologies and that paid off with revenues in 2022 that surpassed 2019 levels, even if attendance had not bounced back in the same way.
