A massive aquarium in Berlin burst early on Friday, overturning million litres (264,172 gallons) of water, almost 1,500 exotic fish and debris onto an important road in the busy Mitte district, said emergency services.
Almost 100 emergency responders rushed to the site which is a leisure complex that contains a Radisson hotel, a museum, and what is believed was the world’s largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium at 25-metre-tall .
Over thousand fishes died, two injured
A hotel guest, Sandra Weeser, talked of chaos.
“The whole aquarium burst and what’s left is total devastation. Lots of dead fish, debris,” she told Reuters.
“It felt like an earthquake” described Naz Masraff, who was another guest at the hotel.
The 1,500 fishes, spilled out of the aquarium, died, said a spokesperson for Union Investment, an investment firm which manages the real estate fund that owns the property.
Various attempts are made to save fish from various smaller tanks that were near the AquaDom. These smaller tanks have narrowly escaped the huge danger but faced power cuts in the building, the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the fire brigade told British news agency Reuters the reason/s behind the massive incident was not known that led AquaDom aquarium to burst.
Franziska Giffey, Berlin mayor, was quoted as saying, “It was fortunate that the accident happened so early in the morning, when there was hardly anybody in the immediate vicinity.”
Two people were injured by broken pieces of glass, which included a hotel employee as well, and emergency services issued a warning to around 350 hotel guests of a possible structural damage and asked them to empty their rooms.
Hotel, AquaDom shut after the incident
According to authorities, buses were dispatched to provide cover for the hotel guests as the morning temperature in Berlin was around -7 degrees Celsius (19.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
Radisson also issued a notice to its Rewards loyalty club members in an e-mail that the hotel at the site was closed until further information.
Sea Life Berlin issued a statement saying that its team was shocked by the incident and was doing everything to get more information from the owners of the AquaDom about the reason/s behind the incident.
The company, which featured a built-in transparent glass elevator ride through the AquaDom aquarium, stated it would also remain shut until further information.
Emergency services shut a major road next to the complex that leads from Alexanderplatz toward the Brandenburg Gate due to the large volume of water that had flooded out of the building.
The aquarium was last refurbished in 2020, according to the website of the DomAquaree complex. During the upgrading work, all the water was drained from the tank and the fish were moved to aquariums in the basement of the building, where there is a breeding care facility for the fish, it said.
Due to the significant amount of water that had spilled out of the structure, emergency officials had to close a key road near to the complex that runs from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate.
The DomAquaree complex’s website states that the aquarium had its most recent renovation in 2020. The fish were transferred to aquariums in the building’s basement, where there is a breeding facility for the fish, during the upgrading work, which involved draining the tank of all its water.
