Street flooded with chocolate after factory mishap

A street in a western German town got a repaving worthy of fictional candy maker Willy Wonka when a tonne of chocolate flowed out of a factory and solidified.

The German newspaper Soester Anzeiger reported on Tuesday that a “small technical defect” involving a storage tank caused the sweet and sticky spill from the DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westoennen.

After hitting the chilly pavement, the milk chocolate quickly hardened.

Spilt chocolate is seen on a road in Werl, Germany on December 10. Source: FEUERWEHR WERL/via Reuters
Spilt chocolate is seen on a road in Werl, Germany on December 10. Source: FEUERWEHR WERL/via Reuters

About 25 firefighters got the job of prying the coating off with shovels and using hot water and torches to remove remaining bits from cracks and holes.

Company boss Markus Luckey told the Anzeiger the factory would be back in action on Wednesday.

Mr Luckey said if the spill had happened closer to Christmas, “that would have been a catastrophe.”