Cause of amusement park fire in Estonia remains unknown

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Preliminary investigations have revealed no evidence that would point to arson in a potentially catastrophic amusement park fire that occurred in Estonia’s southeastern town of Rakvere on Friday night, contrary to the suspicions expressed by the manager of the travelling funfair, Lauri Viikna, on Saturday.
      District Attorney Marge Voogma, who is in charge of the criminal investigations, said on Sunday that the reason for the fire will be discovered only after more extensive investigations to be conducted by experts. At this stage technical crime scene investigations are being made in order to find out potential reasons for the outbreak of fire while the ride was in use.
     
In the Rakvere fire a total of 41 people suffered burns and smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals in Rakvere and Tallinn. All except the six more seriously injured were released late Saturday, officials reported.
      The fire broke out when an amusement park carousel that was in operation caught fire after 11 p.m. on Friday night.
      When the rescue services arrived, part of the carousel was ablaze, but the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire quickly. The electrical system of the equipment as well as five of the carousel’s 20 wagons were damaged.
     
The manager of the travelling tivoli, Lauri Viikna, said on Saturday that an act of vandalism cannot be ruled out. He noted that there was no combustible material around from which the fire could have started.
      According to the head of the rescue operation, the fire had started near the mechanism that runs the carousel.
     
"Our insurance naturally covers all those people who were visiting the funfair", reported Viikna to the Baltic News Service (BNS).
      According to Viikna, all equipment belonging to Estonia’s Tivoli Tuur funfair had last been inspected in Sweden in April.
      The Rakvere City Board decided on Saturday to cancel the operating licence granted to the funfair.


Links:
  Video of amusement park fire on YouTube

Helsingin Sanomat