Terrifying footage captures moment waterslide explodes into huge fireball

Thick plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the attraction at Oceana Waterworld in Gothenburg, whilst flames engulfed the slide.

Footage of the fire was shared on social media on Monday (February 12).

The hotel and office facilities next to the slide were evacuated and emergency services were called to the scene.

Twelve people were taken to Sahlgrenska University Hospital with minor injuries, and police have said one person is currently missing.

Firefighter Björn van der Kaay told Swedish media: “We know that there are fires in water slides, among other things, but we don't know how it started.”

Subcontractors had been working on the development at the time, and a spokesperson for the general contractor on the site told SVT: "We don't know anything for sure, but we believe that the fire broke out in connection with a work step."

One resident told Expressen: “First we saw smoke, then fire and then it exploded,' adding that there was a thick smell of burnt plastic in the air.

“We have seen how the water slide has been formed over several months. Now it only looks like there is a skeleton left.”

While an employee at the site added: "The windows started shaking. The parts from the slide could just as easily have flown towards us.

"We had to leave everything and run out."

Oceana was set to open later this year as part of an expansion of Liseberg Amusement Park, the BBC reports.

The water park will cost 1.2 billion kronor (£91,213,327).

Once finished, it will have the capacity for 1,750 people with an indoor area of 6,000 square metres and an outdoor area of 4,000, making it one of the biggest in Northern Europe.

Liseberg is already a popular tourist attraction in Sweden's second-largest city, with around 3 million visitors a year.

Liseberg CEO Andreas Andersen told local paper Göteborgs-Posten that the group has activated its "crisis management" procedure and called a meeting of the board in the wake of the devastation to their investment. 

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