Berlin's giant aquarium containing 1,500 tropical fish bursts, spilling water into street

BERLIN - A huge aquarium in the center of Berlin burst Friday, causing a wave of devastation in and around the Sea Life tourist attraction, German police said Friday.

Glass and other debris were swept out of the building, which also contains a hotel and cafés, as 1 million liters of water poured out of the 82-foot-high aquarium on Friday morning.

Berlin’s fire service said two people were lightly injured, and rescue dogs were being prepared to search the building for anyone who might be trapped under debris.

There was speculation that freezing temperatures of down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit overnight had caused a crack in the tank, which then exploded under the weight of the water. Police said the cause of the incident was still being investigated, but there was no evidence that it was the result of an attack.

The company that owns the AquaDom, Union Investment Real Estate, said in a statement Friday afternoon that the reasons for the incident were "still unclear."

Mayor Franziska Giffey said the incident had unleashed a "veritable tsunami" of water, but the early morning timing had prevented far more injuries.

"Despite all the destruction, we were still very lucky," she said. "We would have had terrible human damage" had the aquarium burst even an hour later, once more people were awake and in the hotel and the surrounding area, she said.

Witness Gwendolin Szyszkowitz told German news channel n-tv that she heard a loud bang and initially feared a bomb had exploded.

Operators say the aquarium has the biggest cylindrical tank in the world and contained 1,500 tropical fish of 80 different species before the incident. The aquarium, which was last modernized in 2020, is a major tourist magnet in Berlin.

"Unfortunately, none of the 1,500 fish could be saved," Giffey said.

Efforts were underway Friday afternoon to save an additional 400 to 500 smaller fish housed in aquariums underneath the hotel lobby. Without electricity, their tanks were not receiving the necessary oxygen for them to survive, officials said.

"Now it’s about evacuating them quickly," Almut Neumann, a city official in charge of environmental issues for Berlin’s Mitte district, told German news agency dpa.

Various organizations, including the Berlin Zoo, offered to take in the surviving fish.

Aquarium operator Sea Life said it was saddened by the incident and was trying to get more information about the incident from the owners of the AquaDom.

Sea Life’s own aquarium is located in the same building and visitors can tour it and the AquaDom on a single ticket.

The 10-minute elevator ride through the tank was one of the highlights of the attraction.

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 in the hotel, said she was awoken up by a large bang and thought there might have been an earthquake.

"There are shards (of glass) everywhere. The furniture, everything has been flooded with water," she said. "It looks a bit like a war zone."

Police said a Lindt chocolate store and several restaurants in the same building complex, as well as an underground parking garage next to the hotel, sustained damage. A fire service spokesman said building safety experts were assessing the extent to which the hotel had sustained structural damage.

Animal rights group PETA tweeted Thursday that the aquarium became a "death trap" for the fish housed in it. "This man-made tragedy shows that aquariums are not a safe place for fish and other marine life," they wrote.

Iva Yudinski, a tourist from Israel who had been staying at the hotel, said she was shocked by the incident

"Just yesterday we watched it and we were so amazed (by) its beauty," she said. "Suddenly it’s all gone. Everything is a mess, a total mess."