Huge Berlin aquarium bursts, unleashing flood of devastation
BERLIN — A huge aquarium in Berlin burst, spilling debris, water and hundreds of tropical fish out of the AquaDom tourist attraction in the heart of the German capital early Friday.
Police said parts of the building, which also contains a hotel, cafes and a chocolate store, were damaged as 264,000 gallons of water poured from the aquarium shortly before 6 a.m. Berlin’s fire service said two people were slightly injured.
Union Investment Real Estate, the company that owns the AquaDom, said in a statement Friday afternoon that the reasons for the incident were “still unclear.”
Mayor Franziska Giffey said the tank unleashed a “veritable tsunami” of water but the early morning timing prevented far more injuries.
“Despite all the destruction, we were still very lucky,” she said. “We would have had terrible human damage” had the aquarium burst even an hour later, once more people were awake and in the hotel and the surrounding area, she said.
The website of the AquaDom described it as the biggest cylindrical tank in the world at 82 feet tall, though Union Investment Real Estate clarified Friday that the tank portion of the attraction had a height of 46 feet.
There was speculation freezing temperatures that got down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit overnight caused a crack in the acrylic glass tank, which then exploded under the weight of the water. Police said they found no evidence of a malicious act.
Almost all of the 1,500 fish that were inside at the time of the rupture died, the Berlin Mitte district government confirmed via Twitter, adding “a few fish at the bottom of the tank” could still be saved.
Veterinarians, fire service officers and other officials spent the afternoon working to rescue 400 to 500 smaller fish from a separate set of aquariums housed under the hotel lobby. Without electricity, their tanks were not receiving the necessary oxygen for them to survive, officials said. They were evacuated to other tanks in the neighboring Sea Life aquarium that were unaffected.
“It’s a great tragedy that for 1,500 fish there was no chance of survival,” said Almut Neumann, a city official in charge of environmental issues for Berlin’s Mitte district. “The focus in the afternoon was clearly on saving the fish in the remaining tanks.”
Various organizations, including the Berlin Zoo, offered to take in the surviving fish.
Aquarium operator Sea Life said it was saddened by the incident and trying to get more information from the owners of the AquaDom. It said what happened with the AquaDom was “unique and unprecedented” and that Sea Life’s exhibits were not in danger of similar damage.
Sea Life Berlin is located in the same building and visitors can tour it and the AquaDom on a single ticket.
About 300 guests and employees had to be evacuated from the hotel surrounding the aquarium, police said.
Sandra Weeser, a German lawmaker who was staying in the hotel, said she was woken up by a large bang and thought there might have been an earthquake.
“There are shards (of glass) everywhere. The furniture, everything has been flooded with water,” she said. “It looks a bit like a war zone.”
Police said a Lindt chocolate store and several restaurants in the same building complex, as well as an underground parking garage next to the hotel, sustained damage. A fire service spokesman said building safety experts were assessing the extent to which the hotel had sustained structural damage.
The aquarium, which was last modernized in 2020, is a major tourist magnet in Berlin. The 10-minute elevator ride through the tropical tank was one of the highlights of the attraction.
Iva Yudinski, a tourist from Israel who was staying at the hotel, said she was shocked by the incident
“Just yesterday we watched it and we were so amazed (by) its beauty,” she said. “Suddenly it’s all gone. Everything is a mess, a total mess.”
