Hundreds of fish meet fate as huge aquarium in Berlin shatters
>>BERLIN: A giant aquarium burst in Berlin on Friday, sending a “tsunami” of water and 1,500 tropical fish gushing into a hotel lobby and spewing debris onto a nearby street.
It remains unclear what caused the 14-metre high, cylindrical AquaDom aquarium to explode at around 5.50am, police said.
“A million litres of water and all the fish inside spilled onto the ground floor” of the hotel complex housing the aquarium, a spokesman for the Berlin fire department told AFP.
Guests at the Radisson Blu hotel reported being woken up by a loud bang and the feeling of a small earthquake, before seeing the destroyed aquarium and wrecked hotel lobby.
Two people suffered light injuries from glass splinters and were taken to hospital.
“It was a full-on tsunami,” said Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey, adding that it was pure luck the incident had happened in the early morning when very few people were around.
“Despite the terrible destruction we’re seeing, we’re lucky people weren’t seriously injured,” she told reporters.
The 1,500 fish in the tank “could not be saved”, Ms Giffey added.
However, firefighters said later that some of the fish were in fact rescued and taken to an adjacent aquarium.
“We did manage to find fish that were still alive — they were in places where water had collected,” a fire brigade spokesman told local media, saying “several dozen” had been saved.
More than 100 emergency workers were at the scene, which was scattered with glass and other debris.
The AquaDom, which opened in 2004, has long been a popular tourist attraction in the German capital.
It is located in the foyer of a Radisson Blu hotel and had a clear-walled elevator built inside to be used by visitors to the Sea Life leisure complex.
According to the Sea Life website, the AquaDom is the largest cylindrical, freestanding aquarium in the world.
Hotel guest Claudia Gonzales said she “jolted out of bed” at the burst.
“It sounded almost like a firework but the hotel actually shook inside,” she told AFP.
Berlin police said water had “massively” leaked onto the adjoining Karl Liebknecht Street, forcing the partial closure of the major traffic artery. Tram service was also suspended.
The area around the hotel remained sealed off by the early afternoon.
The deluge of water left a path of destruction in its wake, breaking windows and doors and sweeping chairs, tables and plant pots into the street outside the hotel.