Fairground revellers fled in panic when a pirate ship ride caught fire in Indonesia.

Visitors were enjoying the attraction when a spark from the engine caused a cloth to catch fire. The flames then quickly engulfed the rest of the swinging boat.

Footage taken on April 23 shows the inferno raging beneath the fairground attraction in the Tuban Regency in East Java province.

Terrified onlookers screamed as the flame slowly grew larger and threatened to burn the people still onboard.

Tuban Iptu Suganda, head of the Jatirogo police, confirmed that the incident happened at 8:30 pm local time. He said a spark ignited a cloth covering the machine's diesel engine to muffle its noise.

The policeman said: 'Yes, the fire happened briefly. After a visitor reported it, the officers immediately went to the location to extinguish the fire. It turned out that the engine itself was not the one that caught fire.'

Tuban district firefighter Sutaji said: 'There were sparks from the diesel engine that was used to operate the ride.'

The fire spread after the sparks lit up the diesel-covered cloth which was placed on the engine. The ride's manager later helped put out the flame with a fire extinguisher.

Sutaji said: 'There were no casualties, but this incident is enough to make people panic.'