More than 30 people were injured after a Ferris wheel at the festival "Highfield" near the German city of Leipzig in the eastern part of the country caught fire last night, reported DPA, quoted by BTA, citing the police.
According to initial data, all the victims inhaled smoke after two of the wheel's gondolas caught fire, a police spokeswoman said.
The head of operations for the German Red Cross said, however, that two people were seriously injured. The police spokeswoman was initially unable to confirm this information. However, she said that four police officers were among the injured.
The cause of the fire is currently unclear. Initially, one of the ferris wheel's gondolas caught fire around 21:00 local time. The fire then spread to the second gondola. According to a DPA reporter who was at the scene of the accident, the fire completely destroyed both gondolas.
A festival-goer from Cologne said the Ferris wheel suddenly sped up. The burning gondolas were located at the very top of the wheel.
About 30 minutes after the fire broke out, a spokesman for the fire department said that the situation was under control.