In Berlin the capital and largest city of Germany, a 12-meter-high aquarium burst in the hotel lobby, spewing more than a million liters of water with the aquarium fish, wounding two people, and spreading debris on a busy road.
The aquarium was referred to as «the biggest circular basin in the world»
The glass walls of the aquarium broke for reasons that are yet undetermined. In addition to the damage from the water leak, two people were injured by shrapnel from the explosion and were transported to the hospital for treatment.
More than a million liters of water and roughly 1,500 unusually shaped tropical fish were housed in the cylindrical aquarium in the Radisson Blu Hotel’s foyer.
A hundred emergency personnel flocked to the location, a posh complex that includes the Radisson Hotel, a museum, stores, and restaurants.
Berlin police posted on Twitter that «two were injured by shards of glass in addition to the unbelievable marine damage.» A representative for the fire department stated that it was unclear what caused the fish tank explosion.
The ground level of the building was blocked off by rubble, according to a spokesman for the Berlin fire department, who also noted that search and rescue dogs had been sent to the location. The police and fire departments have made no comments on what happened to the fish.
350 hotel guests at the property were advised to pack up and evacuate, according to a fire department spokesperson.
As temperatures in Berlin dropped to roughly minus 7 degrees Celsius, according to the police, buses were rushed to the complex to give shelter for hotel guests who evacuated the facility.
The guests were removed from the hotel as water and fish entered the bottom level, according to a representative for the rescue services. The explosion was not due to a straight forward fish tank split, according to a representative for the rescue teams; rather, there was an «explosion of the basin.»
A major thoroughfare in downtown Berlin was partially cut off by police due to «the very huge volume of water that flowed onto the road,» according to the business in charge of transportation in the city.
Social media users shared images and videos of a severely broken fish tank, massive glass shards spread throughout, and water still dripping from the tank. These images and videos were probably shot by hotel customers.
The «Sea Life» chain aquarium had a glass elevator that let guests view the fish within.
The Aqua Dome was reopened to guests last summer following restoration and remodeling work that cost around 2.5 million euros, according to the Bild tabloid, which said that the explosion was caused by wear and tear in some areas of the basin.
