An aquarium that in Berlin, the capital of Germany, home to around 1,500 exotic fish of more than 80 species, exploded this Friday morning. The causes were not clear and only two injuries were counted.
According to information disseminated by local media, the explosion of the AquaDom, the largest in the world with a million liters of water and located inside the luxurious DomAquarée hotel, occurred around five in the morning. The explosion was captured by seismographs installed in the area.
?The AquaDom bursts: the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world pours a million liters of water and 1,500 fish into the street
? https://t.co/a0ZgbQ593Y pic.twitter.com/JLAq3GIDyJ
— 20minutos.es (@20m) December 16, 2022
The subsequent water leak reached the third floor of the complex and destroyed all the doors and windows in its path. The episode required that around 100 rescuers go to the Radisson Blue hotel, located in the center of the city, the emergency services specified.
At the same time, the VIZ traffic information agency, according to international media, reported large amounts of liquid spilled on public roads.
The aquarium was 16 meters high and more than 11 meters in diameter (about six stories), according to the website of the DomAquarée complex, which houses rooms, a museum, shops and restaurants.
the german medium Bild maintains that the breakage of the aquarium is a consequence of material fatigue, despite the fact that the AquaDom only reopened in the summer of 2020 after two and a half years of renovation work at a cost of 2.6 million euros.
Heute früh ist das Großaquarium „AquaDom“ im Berliner DomAquarée aus bisher unklaren Gründen geplatzt und wurde dabei vollständig zerstört. Dabei wurde ein Hotelangestellter verletzt. Wir sind bestürzt über das Unglück und wünschen der verletzten Person alles Gute.
—Fabian Hellbusch (@unionrealestate) December 16, 2022
Likewise, other versions suggest that the low temperatures could have contributed to the leak. A witness to what happened, Gwendolin Szyszkowitz, told German television that she heard a loud noise and at first she feared that a bomb had exploded.
According to the Catalan media The vanguardthe AquaDom is recognized in the book Guinness of the records as the largest and highest cylindrical aquarium in the world.
Sitting on a nine meter high concrete base, its tank measured about fourteen meters high and about 11 meters in diameter and divers from the German Sea Life center fed the thousands of fish that live inside it daily.
With information from Ap, Reuters, La Nación and Rtve.
