Huge fish tank explodes and floods main street and hotel in Berlin
Berlin, Germany - A famous fish tank aquarium in the center of Berlin burst in the middle of the night in a wild accident, flooding a hotel and a major street on Friday morning.
Hotel guests had the shock of their lives when they heard a loud noise in the middle of the night, around 5:45 AM local time. They emerged from their rooms to see the centerpiece of their hotel swimming in chaos.
The AquaDom was the largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium in the world, standing at 82 feet in height, and has a glass elevator that went up inside of it. It was the impressive focal point inside the DomAquarée complex and a Radisson hotel, and was also surrounded by the Berlin Sea Life Center, offices, shops, and restaurants.
The tank was said to be home to over 1,500 tropical fish and sea animals and was a popular tourist attraction.
As the cylinder burst, an estimated 1 million liters of water poured out, sending fish, huge shards of glass, and parts of the building's facade flying onto the street, a Berlin police spokesperson said.
"The aquarium is damaged, water is leaking. The situation is not clear at the moment," a deployed fire brigade had said earlier on Twitter, adding that 100 firefighters had responded to the accident.
"In addition to the unbelievable maritime damage... two people were injured by glass splinters," Berlin police said on Twitter.
The Karl-Liebknecht Straße, a major thoroughfare in central Berlin on which the hotel is located, has been closed off, the Berlin traffic information center tweeted, saying "there is an extreme amount of water on the roadway."
Hotel guests posted videos of the aftermath on Twitter with astonished reactions.
"Bro what the f**k the fish tank of my hotel just exploded in the middle of the night WHATS GOING ON," one user tweeted.
The tank was reportedly modernized in 2020.
It is unclear how the tank suddenly burst, and the story is developing.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS