Overview
- Emergency teams found an abnormally high chlorine level at the Ling Bao hotel pool after being called to the site, and tests by responders identified a defect in the automatic chlorine‑dosing system as the immediate technical cause on Friday, November 13.
- Phantasialand told WDR that a global outage of Microsoft Outlook prevented the dosing system’s alert emails from reaching staff, so the warning about the over‑chlorination was not delivered.
- About 40 emergency personnel responded and treated 15 guests for respiratory and mucosal irritation, with 14 lightly injured, one moderately injured, and four people taken to hospital for further care after initial reports that five had been admitted were corrected.
- The pool was temporarily closed, the contaminated water was drained and replaced, and authorities have cleared the site after on‑scene remediation while Phantasialand and local services have briefed the public on the facts.
- The incident underscores the acute danger of chlorine exposure to breathing and eye health and raises questions about safety systems that rely on a single email channel for critical alarms, which officials and operators may now review.