HUNDREDS of people have been forced to run for their lives after a fire ripped through a German night club.
Around 750 revellers fled K Club, in Kehl, as the blaze spread through the packed building.
The fire dramatically burnt through the roof of the popular dance venue around 3.45am Sunday morning.
At least 80 fire fighters, police and paramedics rushed to the scene after receiving reports of the blaze.
A party-goer who was inside when the fire broke out told local newspaper DNA that several urgent announcements were made in English, German and French.
“All of a sudden we heard: ‘there’s a fire!’,” they said.
Clubbers who escaped reported that staff handled the evacuation quickly and effectively.
The building was destroyed by the inferno and work to begin tearing it down has begun.
Three people were treated by emergency services but not taken to hospital.
In a statement, Kehl’s mayor Wolfram Britz said he was “happy and relieved that nobody was hurt” and thanked the nightclub owner for ensuring an orderly evacuation.
An investigation into the cause of the blaze has been launched.
The nightclub is located in an industrial area of the city, on the border with France.
It is a well-loved destination for hip-hop and Afro music fans.
It comes after 41 people died and 115 injured during a deadly fire in a Swiss ski-resort bar on New Year’s morning.
Teenagers were amongst the dead in the horror “flashover” fire that tore through the packed club – called Le Constellation – at around 1.30am local time.
Venue owners Jacques, 49, and Jessica Moretti, 40, are suspected of manslaughter by negligence after allegations of insufficient safety standards emerged following the fatal New Year’s Eve inferno.
The blaze broke out after sparklers fixed to champagne bottles set fire to flammable acoustic foam on the ceiling.
Images from before the tragic fire show a bartender in a crash helmet holding a lit sparkler aloft while on the shoulders of another employee wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.
An inferno engulfed the basement nightclub within minutes in what is known as a “flashover” fire, where all combustible materials in a room ignite simultaneously.
