Police said part of the building, which also houses restaurants, cafes and a chocolate factory, was damaged by 1 million (264,000 gallons) of water that poured into the aquarium shortly before 6 a.m. (05:00 GMT). ). Berlin firefighters said two people suffered minor injuries.
The company that owns AquaDom, Union Investment Real Estate, said in a statement Friday afternoon that the cause of the incident was “unknown.”
Mayor Franziska Giffey said the tank caused a “real tsunami” of water, but the early hours of the morning prevented many more injuries.
“Despite all the destruction, we are still lucky,” he said. He said: ‘We would have had terrible human casualties’ if the aquarium had exploded even an hour later, people woke up in and around the hotel, he said.
The AquaDom website describes it as the tallest cylindrical tank in the world at 25 meters (82 feet) in length, although Union Investment Real Estate explained on Friday that the tank portion of the beauty has a height of 14 meters (46 feet) .
There was a freezing rain that dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight and caused the acrylic tank to crack, which cracked under the weight of the water. Police said they found no evidence of foul play.
Almost all of the 1,500 fish in the explosion died, the regional government of Berlin Mitte confirmed via Twitter, adding that “a few fish in the bottom of the tank can still be saved.” Among the 80 species of fish he kept were blue tang and clownfish, two beautiful species known from the famous movie “Finding Nemo”.
Veterinarians, firefighters and other workers spent the afternoon rescuing 400 to 500 small fish in various tanks located under the hotel room. Without electricity, their tanks are not getting the oxygen they need to survive, officials said. They were removed to other tanks at the nearby Sea Life Aquarium that were not affected.
“It’s a big tragedy that for 1,500 fish there is no chance of survival,” said Almut Neumann, an environmental protection official in Berlin’s Mitte district. “In the afternoon, the focus is clearly on saving the fish and the remaining tanks.”
Various organizations, including the Berlin Zoo, offered to take in the surviving fish.
The manager of the Sea Life aquarium said that he is saddened by the incident and is trying to get more information from the owners of AquaDom. He said that what happened at the AquaDom was “unique and unprecedented” and that the Sea Life exhibit was not at risk 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 at the hotel, said she was awakened by the sound and thought it must have been an earthquake.
“There is waste (of glass) everywhere. The furniture, everything is full of water,” he said, “It’s like a war zone.”
Police said the Lindt chocolate factory and several restaurants in the same complex, as well as an underground parking lot next to the hotel, were damaged. A fire department spokesman said building safety experts were investigating the extent of the damage to the hotel.
A few hours after the incident, trucks began cleaning up debris from the road in front of the hotel. Bright Lindt chocolate wrappers scattered outside the building where the chocolate factory was destroyed. A small crowd of tourists and onlookers took pictures behind a police cordon across the street.
Animal rights group PETA tweeted on Friday that the aquarium had become a “death trap” for the fish there. “This man-made disaster shows that aquariums are not safe places for fish and other marine life,” the group wrote.
The aquarium, which was last renovated in 2020, is a major tourist magnet in Berlin. The 10-minute elevator ride to the hot springs is one of the highlights. Iva Yudinski, an Israeli tourist staying at the hotel, said she was saddened by the incident
He said: “Yesterday, we looked at it and were amazed (by) its beauty.” “Suddenly, everything stopped. Everything is a mess, a total mess.
