A stork’s nest that caught fire on a high-voltage power line triggered a power outage, causing a brief disruption at Germany’s largest theme park on Tuesday.
As a result of the outage, some of Europa-Park’s attractions became temporarily inaccessible to visitors, and several rides came to a halt.
According to a park spokesperson, the power cut lasted only a few minutes around midday.
In addition to the attractions, the online systems were also briefly affected, the park added.
Operations resumed shortly afterwards and are now back to normal.
“In such a case, all systems automatically switch to the safest mode, a controlled shutdown,” the spokesman continued. On the majority of rides, guests were able to disembark normally at the station; three rides reportedly had to be evacuated.
“These procedures are standardized and regularly tested processes designed to ensure guest safety,” the spokesman added.
The power supply was immediately restored by the network operator, after which attractions gradually resumed operations. To compensate for the disruption to visitors, opening hours were extended.
Europa-Park, located near the southern German city of Freiburg, features more than 100 attractions and shows and marked its 50th anniversary last July. According to its own figures, the park welcomed more than 7 million visitors last year.
