- The large aquarium in the lobby of the Hotel Radisson Blu on Alexanderplatz has burst.
- Two people were slightly injured, said a spokesman for the Berlin fire brigade on Friday morning. 1500 fish died in the process.
- According to initial findings, the bursting of the large aquarium is probably due to material fatigue.
The police spoke of a very loud noise or a bang that could be heard. The fire brigade received an alarm from an automatic fire alarm in the hotel at 5:43 a.m. Parts of the facade of the hotel in which the aquarium was located flew onto the street.
Legend:
The effects of the bursting aquarium can be seen from the street.
REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
Large amounts of water ran out and onto the street. The police and fire brigade have been on duty since the morning, each with around 100 people. It was initially not known whether the two injured were employees of the hotel where the aquarium was located or whether they were hotel guests.
Aquarium burst “suddenly”
According to initial findings, signs of fatigue in the material are the reason for the accident: “Of course, the investigation into the cause has not yet been completed, but the first signs point to material fatigue,” said Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger of the German Press Agency. Now it is a matter of recording the damage and taking the necessary safety measures.
Buildings and traffic routes would have to be checked. “In view of the sheer force that worked and the temperatures, unfortunately I fear the worst for the animals,” says Spranger.
This is not a small crack from which the water is leaking, but the entire aquarium has suddenly burst.
According to the fire brigade, the giant tank with a million liters of water was destroyed very quickly. “If the aquarium is defective, then it bursts suddenly,” said a spokesman for the fire brigade. “It’s not a small crack from which the water is leaking, but the entire aquarium suddenly burst.” All of the 1,500 or so fish that lived there are no longer in the water.
According to the fire brigade, a large part of the water probably ran through the doors on the ground floor onto the street and there into the gullies. Not much water was found in the basements. The destroyed ground floor was searched for people with rescue dogs.
Hotel guests had to leave the building
Because of the severe damage, the guests of the surrounding hotel also had to leave the building, as the spokesman for the fire brigade said. Around 350 people were still in the hotel.
According to the operator on the Internet, the so-called Aquadom in the Sealife aquarium was the “largest, cylindrical, free-standing aquarium in the world”, an attraction in Berlin that is well-known to many tourists. It was an acrylic glass container 16 meters high and 11.5 meters in diameter. Visitors could ride through the interior of the aquarium in an elevator.
Legend:
This is what the aquarium looked like before. A passenger lift ran through the aquarium.
KEYSTONE/DPA/Annette Riedl
About 1500 fish from over 100 different species lived in the tank. The aquarium was filled with a million liters of salt water. That’s 1000 cubic meters of water weighing 1000 tons. According to the information, the aquarium was extensively modernized by summer 2020. The place is near the Berlin Alexanderplatz with the TV tower.
There are extensive barriers around the hotel where the burst large aquarium is located. There were a number of fire and police cars on site on Friday morning. Sirens could be heard. The doors of the building seemed to be pushed open, in front of them were a number of objects, as a dpa reporter reported.