Mother and daughters hand themselves in to police after dozens of zoo animals burned alive by illegal sky lanterns

‘The pain is unbelievable’, says zoo’s director after deaths of orangutans, gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzee

A mother and her two daughters have handed themselves in to police after a fire killed more than 30 animals at a zoo in Germany.

The three women, aged between 30 and 60, had launched paper sky lanterns believed to have ignited the blaze that ripped through an ape house in the western city of Krefeld early on New Year’s Day.

Five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee and several monkeys were killed, along with birds and fruit bats. All either burned to death or died of smoke inhalation. Two chimpanzees and a seven-strong family of gorillas in a neighbouring garden survived.

The three women are under investigation on suspicion of negligent arson, prosecutor Jens Frobel said on Thursday. The offence carries a prison sentence of up to five years.

Firework displays are commonplace in Germany as people welcome in the new year at midnight on 31 December. But sky lanterns, the miniature paper hot-air balloons that have been popular in Asia for centuries, are illegal and rarely used in the country.

The women, who went to police on Wednesday after authorities held a press conference about the zoo fire, told detectives they had bought five lanterns online.

They said they had believed the lanterns were legal in Germany and there was nothing in the product description to suggest they were banned, police chief Gerd Hoppmann told a press conference.

He described the mother and daughters as “completely normal people who seemed very sensible, very responsible” and praised their “very courageous” decision come forward, saving police a difficult investigation.

“They launched the lanterns with good wishes and had no idea what could happen, Mr Hoppmann said.

Authorities provided only limited details about the suspects, who police said had received threats.

Investigators believe just one lantern started the blaze. The other four were later found nearby, with handwritten good wishes for the new year still attached.

The zoo’s ape house lacked fire detectors or sprinklers, which were not required when it was built in the 1970s. The zoo’s management said it had passed a regular fire protection check last year.

The building’s roof had been renovated after a hailstorm a few years ago and plexiglass was added, Mr Hoppmann said. While investigators are confident the sky lantern started the fire, they will also look at other factors – such as dry fallen leaves on the roof – that may have contributed.

Authorities are to carry out tests to establish why the blaze spread so quickly.

Just one sky lantern is believed to have sparked the blaze at the ape house (AP)

The zoo was festooned with candles and photos of the dead apes on Thursday as locals mourned the animals, including an endangered Bornean orangutan and Massa, a 48-year-old male gorilla.

“I’ve seen very many human corpses,” Mr Hoppmann said. “And I was struck by how like humans the bodies of the great apes looked when transformed by the fire.”

The zoo’s director, Wolfgang Dressen, told public broadcaster WDR: “The pain is unbelievable.”

The two surviving chimpanzees – a 40-year-old female and a younger male – were in a good condition after being rescued by firefighters, the zoo said.

Additional reporting by agencies