Paris: Fire broke out at the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris on Tuesday following which around 1,200 visitors at the landmark tourist spot were evacuated. French authorities confirmed that flames were first seen in the elevator shaft between the first and second floors, according to local media reports.
Firefighters were swiftly dispatched to the scene and worked to contain the blaze. Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire may have been caused by an overheating device near an elevator cable, a police official told Boulevard Voltaire.
The fire was doused after a short while and the Eiffel Tower was reopened for visitors.
The Eiffel Tower remains one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, attracting between 15,000 and 25,000 visitors daily, as noted by the statistics database RoadGenius.
This isn’t the first time the monument has experienced a fire. In January 1956, a blaze in the tower’s television transmission room caused significant damage.
