| | |
54 Hurt as Roller Coaster Burns in Crowded Park
A fire raged through a roller coaster at one of Europe's largest amusement parks Tuesday, forcing 150 passengers to scramble down 60-foot ladders to escape. At least 54 people were injured.
Panic broke out in parts of the Phantasialand park in western Germany, which was filled with 20,000 guests for the May Day holiday, as burning debris fell."We were running. We didn't know if the huge burning walls would fall on us," said Esther Weimann, a 21-year-old pregnant woman who climbed over an 8-foot wall to get out. "It was mass panic."
Several dozen other visitors tore down a fence to escape. "We just barely avoided a catastrophe," said Cologne Police Director Winrich Granitzka.
It took more than two hours to extinguish the flames after the fire broke out on the 20-year-old roller coaster, called the Grand Canyon, part of the park's Western theme section. Flames also engulfed a nearby building. Police said the 54 injured were believed to be mostly roller-coaster passengers who suffered smoke inhalation.
The park's founder, Gottlieb Loeffelhardt, said the likely cause was a cable fire in one of the cars.That caused the roller coaster's emergency brakes to activate, forcing the passengers to descend on ladders.
198
|
|
|
|
