Huge fire breaks out at Germany's biggest theme park as families watch on

A huge fire has broken out at Germany's biggest theme park.

Terrified families watched on as large plumes of smoke billowed into the air at Europa-Park today (19 June).

Footage from the park in Rust, in the South-West of the country, shows hundreds of park goers leaving as the emergency is dealt with.

In one clip, thick smoke and flames can be seen rising from behind one of the rollercoasters.

Speaking to a local news outlet, one bystander said: "It banged loudly two or three times. After that, a huge fire could be seen."

Another who saw the chaos unfold took to social media, writing: "Sad - Fire in #europapark in the Spanish area, luckily we saw it just in time to leave the restaurant adjacent to the building. Hope all families and children are safe!"

Twitter/roudoudou90

Someone else added: "The diamond cave in Europapark is on fire. For now, we don't know if anybody is hurt but the fire is already under control it seems. It was really impressive and frightening."

Many were confused by what had caused the blaze in the first place.

"What exactly is burning?" asked one user.

In a post to Twitter, a spokesperson for the theme park said it was working hard to get the situation under control.

It read: "Dear visitors/friends of Europa-Park, an incident has occurred at Europa-Park. We work closely with the responsible authorities and emergency services.

"An update will follow as new information becomes available."

A later update added: "Firefighting is ongoing, adjacent areas have been cleared and visitors are being escorted out of the park."

Twitter

The park has now said that the fire is 'under control'.

"The fire is currently under control and we are not aware of any injuries at this time," it said.

A statement from the police read: "A locally limited fire was reported in an amusement park near Rust around 4:40 p.m.

"The fire is currently being fought by a large contingent of firefighters and is under control. Police and rescue services are also on duty.

"All visitors are currently in the process of leaving the amusement park in an orderly manner. Nothing is currently known about injured persons."