A U.K. family of three barely escaped with their lives when their car caught on fire in the middle of a safari park filled with lions.
Helen Clements and her two children were inside their vehicle within a lion enclosure at the Longleat Safari & Adventure Park in Wiltshire, England when the car burst into flames, ABC News reported.
The family had to make a life-or-death decision of whether to remain in the car where they could burn, or escape and risk being a meal for the lions.
"You're stuck and you can't control and you can't do anything about it," Clements told ABC News.
"Why couldn't it be in the flamingos or the camels?" Clements added. "But no, it had to be in the lion enclosure."
Clements said she and her children tried getting out of the car, but park rangers told them not to do so.
"They were shouting at us get back in the car, do not get out the car and it's a situation- what do you do?" Clements told the station.
Park rangers were able to transport the family from the burning car to another vehicle before the flames reached them. Longleat Safari Park Managing Director Alex Lloyd said two rangers worked together to save Clements and her kids.
"(There's) always a ranger with their eye on the animals and a ranger there to assist the family," Lloyd told ABC News. "That training kicked into action and all worked well, so the first ranger stayed close by the lions whilst the second ranger was able to relatively freely get the family out of the vehicle."
Other visitors in the park who witnessed the situation were stunned.
"Bad day for someone @Longleat!" Hannah tweeted @MissLight20, according to ABC News. "And we were in the lion enclosure #notagoodtimeforabreakdown."
