The large aquarium at Sea Life near the Berlin Cathedral with 1000 cubic meters of water and 1500 fish has burst. Parts of the surrounding Radisson Blue hotel were destroyed in the morning. According to police, two people were injured and taken to the hospital. A police spokesman said there was no evidence of a targeted, violent attack. Structural engineers would now have to check the security of the building. Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) told the German Press Agency that the investigation is still ongoing. However, the first signs pointed to material fatigue.
This is what the huge aquarium looked like before it was destroyed.
(Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa)
According to the police, the aquarium burst early in the morning. The fire brigade received an alarm from an automatic fire alarm in the hotel at 5:43 a.m. The police spoke of a very loud noise or a bang that could be heard. The huge tank with a million liters of water was apparently destroyed very quickly. “If the aquarium is defective, it bursts suddenly,” said a spokesman for the fire brigade. “It’s not a small crack that the water is leaking out of.” Almost all of the approximately 1,500 fish are now dead. Only a few live ones could be found in the hotel lobby. However, the fire brigade is now busy rescuing the fish from the undamaged aquariums in the hotel’s basement and into the neighboring underwater world Sealife bring to. This was necessary because the hotel’s power supply was interrupted.
It is still unclear why the aquarium burst.
(Photo: Iva Yudinski/dpa)
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. According to the police, parts of the facade of the hotel where the aquarium was located flew onto the street. The doors of the building seemed to be pushed open, in front of them were a number of objects, reported a dpa reporter. The masses of water also made their way into the rooms of the DDR Museum, which is located below the hotel complex on the banks of the Spree. The museum management estimates that around a third of the exhibition space will be affected. The museum will probably have to remain closed for several weeks.
Debris lies on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse in front of the Hotel Radisson Blue.
(Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa)
The destroyed ground floor was searched for people with rescue dogs. Due to the severe damage, the guests of the surrounding hotel also had to leave the building. About 350 people were still in the hotel. It is not yet known whether the injured were employees of the Radisson Hotel, where the aquarium was located, or guests.
Footage shared on social media shows the destruction inside the hotel.
(Photo: Iva Yudinski/dpa)
The Dom Aquarée building complex includes the large Sea Life aquarium and the so-called Aqua Dom. According to the operator’s website, this is the “largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world” and was extensively modernized by summer 2020.
The aquarium with the 14 meter high water column according to the operator was a container made of acrylic glass. Overall, the construction was apparently 16 meters high and had a diameter of 11.5 meters. About 1,500 fish from more than 100 different species lived in the pool. The aquarium was filled with a million liters of salt water. That would be 1000 cubic meters of water weighing 1000 tons. Visitors could ride through the interior of the aquarium in an elevator. Sea Life said it was “dismayed” by the destruction.
The Aqua Dom was a well-known tourist attraction, now it is mostly destroyed.
(Photo: Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS)
The FDP member of the Bundestag Sandra Weeser experienced the bursting of the large Berlin aquarium as a hotel guest. She was woken up in a deep sleep and initially thought of something like an earthquake, Weeser told the German Press Agency. But there was only a short bang and a “short tremor of the building”. That’s why she fell asleep again. She then found out from the media what had happened in the hotel. The police and fire brigade then later informed the guests. The hotel looks “a bit like a war zone,” Weeser said. “It’s a picture of devastation with lots of dead fish and shards.” You saw a lot of dead fish. “Those who might have been saved were frozen to death.”
The place is very close to the Alexanderplatz in Berlin with the TV Tower. On the other side of the Spree are the Berlin Cathedral and the Humboldt Forum. There are extensive barriers around the hotel where the burst large aquarium is located. Several fire engines and police cars are on site. The Berlin traffic information center tweeted that Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse, where the hotel with the aquarium is located, was closed.