A giant aquarium containing a million litres of water injured two and unleashed 1,500 fish when it burst into the lobby of a four-star hotel in Berlin.
The huge tank – the world’s largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium – disintegrated without warning in the early hours of this morning (16th December).
The 25-metre-high (82-foot) AquaDom aquarium in the Radisson Blu Hotel was reportedly destroyed in the explosion.
Around a million litres of water flooded down from the third floor of the underground car park, after the alarm broke out at around 5.43am.
Broken glass, twisted metal and dying fish were all swept away into the street in the flood from the aquarium run by the Sea Life franchise.
Police officers rushed to the site with submachine guns as they initially suspected a terrorist attack.
But they soon reported that material fatigue, which is a phenomenon where structures fail when subjected to a cyclic load, was reportedly the reason for the explosion.
A spokesperson from the fire brigade told German newspaper Bild: “If the aquarium is defective, then it bursts suddenly.”
Police claimed that two people were injured by broken glass that was scattered around due to the impact of the explosion.
The fire brigade and about a hundred emergency services individuals were reportedly searching the ground floor with rescue dogs for other victims.
They wrote on Twitter: “The aquarium is damaged, water is leaking. The situation is not clear at the moment.”
A man identified as Christian who was one of the 350 hotel guests at the time of the explosion, said: “We heard a loud cracking sound. Then we woke up.
“My wife said something flew past the window. I got up shortly afterwards and saw that the aquarium, which was still standing yesterday and had been cleaned from the inside, had collapsed.”
Musician Iva Yudinski shared a video of the incident on Instagram and said: “In the early morning, around 6am, I heard a huge explosion, thunder.
“I didn’t even understand what happened. I called my girlfriend and went to her room. From there we saw the aquarium and all the destruction. Everything is flooded with water.”
Another man identified as Niklas Scheele who recorded the chaotic scene and posted the video on his Twitter profile, said: “Bro what the f*ck, the fish tank of my hotel just exploded in the middle of the night. What’s going on?”
All guests were reportedly asked to leave the hotel, following the explosion which was reportedly so strong that two seismographs in the city managed to record the vibrations.
State Secretary Markus Kamrad. 51. revealed that some fish that survived the explosion were taken to the local zoo.
The AquaDom was the world’s largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium that cost about EUR 12.8 million (GBP 11.2 million) when it was first opened in 2004.
The massive attraction provided home to around 100 different tropical fish species, which could be seen up close with a specially-built lift.
It was closed in October 2019, and reopened about 18 months ago after “modernisation work”.
