Blaze at German amusement park

At least 35 people have been injured in a fire at an amusement park in western Germany.

The fire broke out on a roller coaster at about 1.45 p.m. (1145 GMT) in the Phantasialand amusement park in the western town of Bruehl, near Cologne.

Thousands of visitors were in the park at the time but there are no reports of any deaths.

We came within a hair's breadth of a catastrophe

State premier Wolfgang Clement

Officials say it took fire fighters about an hour and a half to bring the blaze under control. A nearby highway was closed as some 100 fire engines rushed to the area.

Several ambulances were mobilised to ferry the wounded to nearby hospitals.

A number of buildings in the park were completely destroyed.

No panic

Thousands of visitors holidaying on May Day left the park calmly without panicking, officials said.

"We came within a hair's breadth of a catastrophe," North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Wolfgang Clement said.

Reports say the roller coaster was made mostly of wood and was built in the style of an old-fashioned train.

It is thought that a cable fire in one of the carriages may have caused the blaze.

The Phantasialand amusement park is the largest in Germany and receives two million visitors each year.