In Berlin, a sixteen-meter-high aquarium erupted on Friday morning. Two people were injured there. Opened in 2004 and popular with tourists, the famous Aquadom was the largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world. The tank was destroyed with a single hit.
All four hundred hotel guests and local residents were safely evacuated, a fire department spokesperson confirmed. The force of the explosion damaged windows and doors. Debris flew down the street. The bang was so huge that two seismographs in the city registered tremors.
There is also a lot of water damage. About 1,500 fish did not survive, reports the German newspaper Image. They are colorful tropical fish, such as clownfish, longfin batfish and Picasso surgeonfish.
Two people were injured by shards of glass, police said. They were taken to hospital with cuts. The damage in the hotel is immense. More than 100 rescuers rushed to the scene.
huge blow
Hotel guests had to leave after the explosion and were collected in buses. “Early in the morning, I heard a huge explosion,” said Iva Yudinski, a guest at the hotel. Image. “I didn’t understand what was going on. I called my girlfriend and went to her room. From there we saw the aquarium and all the destruction. Everything is under water. A politician who also spent the night at the hotel spoke of a “major disaster for the fish and for the hotel”.
Christian also stayed at the hotel with his wife. “We heard a big boom. Then we woke up. My wife said something went past the window. I got up shortly after and saw that the aquarium, which was still standing yesterday, had collapsed.
1 million liters of water
According to firefighter Klein, the water must be pumped out quickly, because water affects the stability of the building and can cause even more dangerous situations. “Roofs and walls should therefore be free of water as soon as possible. It’s a huge job, because the cylinder contained 1 million liters of water.
The firefighter cannot identify the cause of the aquarium burst. “How this might have happened remains to be seen in further research.”
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