A huge aquarium in Berlin containing 1,500 fish has burst. The disastrous incident has left people injured, fish dead and lessons needing to be learned about whether novelty aquariums should even exist on such an enormous scale for human enjoyment. Spoiler: yeah nah probably not.
The AquaDom aquarium in Germany was the world’s largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium standing at 14 metres tall. Generally speaking, it was also one of Berlin’s largest aquariums.
After the protective glass shattered, over one million litres of water spilled out into the nearby Mitte district in central Berlin. Yes, a whole milly.
Bro what the fuck the fish tank of my hotel just exploded in the middle of the night WHATS GOING ON. #radissonblu #Berlin #aquarium #Explosion pic.twitter.com/Od8iS9YxBN
— Niklas Scheele (@niklas_scheele) December 16, 2022
Over 100 emergency responders were called in to assist with the situation which caused projectile glass splinters to injure two passersby as per The Age. Truly horrifying. I simply cannot imagine anything worse happening during a stay at a hotel. Perhaps with the exception of the events of White Lotus.
One hotel guest, Naz Masraff, recalled the exact moment the glass shattered saying “it felt like an earthquake”.
The aquarium was inside a complex that also housed a hotel and a museum. 350 hotel guests were asked to pack their belongings and bugger off in case there was any residual damage to the building’s structural integrity as per the ABC.
“Despite all the destruction, we were still very lucky,” said mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey.
“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.”
🚨#UPDATE: Video shows what the tropical aquarium what have looked like in the Hotel Radisson in Berlin, Germany before it exploded reports say Two people were injured with the water poured into the hotel and onto the streets causing major damage pic.twitter.com/QCN8y0bTsM
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) December 16, 2022
The incident was also an ecological disaster, with many of the fish contained in the aquarium considered exotic as per SBS.
“Unfortunately, none of the 1,500 fish could be saved,” added the mayor.
What an absolute cock-up. Berlin’s enormous vegan community is sure to have thoughts on this.
The local fire brigade informed Reuters it still hasn’t concluded what caused the aquarium to burst.
More to come.
