Inside a hotel in Berlin, Germany, a huge aquarium with thousands of tropical fish has burst into flames.
On Friday, December 16, a million liters of water in a huge aquarium in the lobby of the Radisson Blu exploded, causing damage to the hotel and streets nearby.
A source said that the AquaDom, which is 14 meters tall and holds 1,500 tropical fish from over 100 different species, is the largest free-standing cylindrical fish tank in the world.
Visitors told the Metro that they heard a loud noise like a thunderclap and thought at first that a bomb had gone off because glass and other items were scattered across the lobby.
Take a look at the damage:
Staying in the @Radisson Collection in Berlin, where the huge aquarium (part of @SEALIFEAquarium) has shattered and flooded the hotel lobby. Apparently nobody has been hurt, fingers crossed that is true. I was woken up at 4:30 ish by a rumbling beneath us #berlin #sealife pic.twitter.com/hbRlchp0Zs
— Chris Woolley (@ChrisWoolleyy) December 16, 2022
SeaLife runs the attraction, which opened in December 2003. The company runs attractions all over the world. There were more than 100 different kinds of fish in the tank.
On Friday, SeaLife posted on its website that the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium, which is also a fish tank, was temporarily closed and asked visitors to reschedule their tickets.
Footage of the accident shows that it caused a lot of damage to the aquarium and that debris is all over the place. It also caused a lot of damage to the lobby of the hotel, which is why guests had to be moved out.
A source says that the incident has caused “incredible maritime damage” and that at least two people have been hurt.
A member of the Berlin fire brigade said that emergency workers couldn’t get to the ground floor of the building because it was full of broken things. Another source says that they also said that rescue dogs were on their way to the scene.
The tank in our hotel….blew? #berlin #radisson #hotel #aquarium pic.twitter.com/4pfheKSc4G
— Dr Lara Rimmer (@lararimmer) December 16, 2022
At least two people have been injured when a large aquarium burst at a hotel in central Berlin, police say.
The incident also caused "incredible maritime damage." pic.twitter.com/yrrzRUYQUz
— DW News (@dwnews) December 16, 2022
There are rumors that recent freezing temperatures may have caused the leak. However, authorities have said that the cause of the incident is still being looked into.
The aquarium, which was last updated in 2020, is one of Berlin’s most popular tourist spots. The most famous part of the hotel was the 10-minute elevator ride through the middle of the cylindrical tank.
Because of the terrible thing that happened, about 350 people who were staying at the hotel were told to pack up and leave.
But because it’s about -7 degrees in Berlin, buses were sent to the resort to give guests who were leaving the hotel a place to stay, according to a source.
Also, because there was so much water coming out of the building, emergency services had to close a road next to it that goes from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate.
