A theme park in southwest Germany reopened to visitors early yesterday, after a large fire caused the site to be evacuated the day before.
The last remnants of the fire had been extinguished and the areas cleared, said police in the small town of Rust, home to Europa-Park.
However, parts of the amusement park remained unusable following the blaze.
Three of its 100 attractions remained out of service yesterday.
“We hope that we will be able to open the unusable areas – like the fjord rafting – soon,” said a park spokeswoman.
Some visitors complained of a smoky smell.
However, since most of the attractions remained open, no discounts were available for visitors yesterday.
Additionally, a music show aired from the park was able to go ahead as planned, despite the dress rehearsal being disrupted by the emergency.
The cause of the blaze is still unknown, as is the total damage, though it was estimated to be in the millions of euros.
Park officials said the blaze likely started in a warehouse and then spread to a nearby water attraction, the Pirates of Batavia.
There were about 25,000 people at the park near the French border on Saturday, according to police estimates.
Some 500 fire officers and other emergency workers were deployed to tackle the blaze, which took well into the night to extinguish.
Seven firefighters suffered injuries due to smoke inhalation.
Europa-Park is Germany’s largest amusement park and receives about 5.6mn visitors a year.




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