A SIX-year-old girl was sexually assaulted after getting separated from her parents at a water park – with the depraved perpetrator still on the run.

The horrifying ordeal took place when the suspect approached the child offering to help – but then dragged her to the woods before sexually abusing her.

The child lost sight of her parents during a visit to the popular Rulatica water park in Germany.

The facility, run by Europa-park, is located in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, near the French border.

German police said the sick attack took place on Saturday, August 9, L’Alsace reported.

After sexually abusing her, the suspect reportedly left her alone in the woods.

She was then found by a local passerby around 10pm the same day.

The area she was discovered in was about 5km from the water park, and she was only wearing a swimsuit.

The suspect is reportedly a 31-year-old Romanian national.

He was living in the local region at the time of the attack, reports say.

Cops are desperately continuing their manhunt for the suspect.

And they put out an appeal for any information that may lead to his arrest.

Police said: “Anyone present in Rulantica or in the wooded area north of the park on Saturday between 8:20 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. who may have noticed the presence of the man and the girl should contact the German authorities.”

The beloved Rulantica water park can hold a maximum of 6,000 visitors per day.

It comes after there were reportedly hundreds of reports of sexual assaults in public swimming pools in Germany – in what has been called an epidemic.

In one of the worst hit regions, 74 alleged attacks have been recorded recently with several involving children – including eight young girls in one day.

The issue started to raise questions across Germany after a concerning number of reports were made in June.

Cops arrested four Syrian suspects, aged 18 to 28, the next month and accused them of sexually assaulting up to eight girls in a public swimming pool in Hesse.

The victims were aged between 11 to 16 and had all been at the Barbarossabad pool on the same day. 

Criminal charges were filed against all of the suspects, who were also been banned from the pool following the harrowing incident.