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THREE WOMEN ARE under investigation for launching paper sky lanterns at New Year that apparently ignited a devastating fire at a German zoo, killing more than 30 animals, officials said.
The local women – a mother and her two daughters, aged 30 to 60 – went to police in the western city of Krefeld on New Year’s Day after authorities held a news conference about the blaze, criminal police chief Gerd Hoppmann said.
The women are being investigated on suspicion of negligent arson, prosecutor Jens Frobel said.
The offence can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.
Many Germans welcome in the new year legally with fireworks at midnight.
Sky lanterns, however, are both illegal and unusual in Germany.
The mini hot-air balloons made of paper have been used in Asia for centuries.
The fire started in a corner of the ape house’s roof at Krefeld Zoo and spread rapidly.
The zoo near the Dutch border said the ape house burned down and more than 30 animals – including five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee and several monkeys – were killed, as well as fruit bats and birds.
Firefighters were only able to rescue two chimpanzees.
The zoo said today it was satisfied with their condition.
Hoppmann said the women had ordered five sky lanterns on the internet and told authorities that they had not known they were illegal in Germany.
He added there was nothing in the product description showing that they were banned.
Hoppmann described the women as “completely normal people who seemed very sensible, very responsible” and said it was “very courageous” of them to come forward, saving authorities a tricky investigation.
He added that they fear reprisals.
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Illegal or not, these things are ridiculous. Sending a piece of cloth or paper into the sky with a naked flame near to it and not expecting and accident is crazy.
Used to see a lot in my area at one time – some looked to be in the flight path into Dublin airport!
@Grainnewhale: That’s frightening to think about – imagine fuel being dumped for an emergency night landing just as some eejit lets a rake of burning lanterns into the sky.
@Grainnewhale: I live right beside the airport and i regularly see them, and fireworks, last week we could see 5 big ass lazors aimed at the sky, no idea how they can do that so close to airport, they would blind ya
@Fiona Fitzgerald: They should be illegal
@Fiona Fitzgerald: A burning lantern won’t ignite jet fuel that is dumped so you have no need to worry.
Those yokes are just a mobile bonfire.
I’m sorry if they are German nationals, they knew. What a tragedy. Poor animalsyst have been terrified.
@Patricia O’Reilly: I’m an born and bred Irish man, I don’t know every law, I don’t know of everything that’s illegal, its very easy not to know something
@Martin Harte: generally a quick Google will give you a good indication of what’s legal or not. It’s not rocket science.
Ignorance isn’t a great excuse. If it was then by your logic somebody could claim they didn’t know it was illegal to drive without insurance.
@Barry: people don’t usually google things they do to check if they are illegal! if they do it’s probably because they have an ilkling it is.
“Chinese lanterns are banned in Austria, Australia and most of Germany for fire safety reasons.” I didn’t know that, but good for them.
Honestly, I think they should be banned here, they’re only a fire hazard. Firstly, groups can and do get permission to let them off in Ireland, like fireworks. We’re on an island and they can easily be mistaken for distress flares from a sinking boat, so you can’t just set them off at random. How many of us would even know that – except for the McKenna family who escaped from a house fire in Dublin when burning sky lanterns set their house on fire?
Isn’t it up to the Irish government to learn from this and do something about it?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: if they drift into an area of forestry or a ripe field of corn they can do untold damage. They really need to be banned here.
Those poor animals. It’s bad enough that they’re incarcerated in a zoo: to be burnt alive there is horrific. Five years is a joke of a sentence IMHO :(
@Liz O’Neill: your thinking life in prison or perhaps burn them at the stake ?
@Liz O’Neill: at least they handed themselves in and have taken responsibility for their actions. Considering nobody went to jail in relation to the Stardust fire, five years is some sort of punishment.
@Liz O’Neill: It would make you wonder whether there wasn’t any sprinkler system or smoke detectors set up. It seems no different to the Grenfell tragedy really. Anyone waking up in heavy smoke is at a disadvantage if there isn’t a foolproof emergency escape route built in. I think zoos can learn a lot from this. Not “5 years in jail if you accidentally do this.” – obviously architects could have done much more to avert this.
I know a fair few zoos with monkey houses on islands, and like crannógs, the lake would have stopped the fire from spreading further. The apes are afraid of water, and would never set foot in it.
@Liz O’Neill: Seriously Liz .. the 5yr sentence would relate to the lanterns. I’m guessing there may be the possibility of further prosecution in relation to the fire.
@Liz O’Neill: Get a grip of yourself Liz FFS, its a disgrace if they go to jail at all, its a tragic accident, how would they have even the slightest notion something like that would happen
@Frank Scanlon: common sense, maybe? Send flaming stuff skyward in random direction, sure what could possibly go wrong?
@John Mulligan: A lot of people set off fire lanterns and 99.9% of the time theres no issue. Maybe not the most responsible thing to do but its a very freak happening that a zoo burned down. Im sure the women involved are devastated about what happened
@John Mulligan: Flaming stuff? Random directions? That’s mad Ted.
Would love to see you Paddysplaining to Asians how you’d never heard of sky lanterns before, but that their millennia-old tradition is a load of b0ll0cks
@John Mulligan: Unfortunate problem with common sense is that it’s not at all common.
They should be banned in Ireland also.
@Jimmy Brandon: They are German- they probably wouldn’t bother coming here anyway??
Poor animals. Wish I hadn’t read this article. Awful on so many levels :-(
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