Giant 82ft-high aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes in Berlin

Two people were injured and have been taken to hospital

A huge aquarium exploded inside a German hotel in the early hours of Friday morning, unleashing a “tsunami” of water, and killing 1,500 tropical fish.

The 46ft-high tank, called the AquaDom, was a popular tourist attraction located in the foyer of the Radisson Blu hotel in central Berlin.

But at around 5.50am on Friday (December 15), it burst, killing all of the 1,500 tropical fish housed in the aquarium and unleashing a million litres of water into the lobby.

The explosion cut off electricity in the hotel, and two people were injured from glass shards.

They received treatment in hospital.

Guests have since been moved out of the hotel.

Berlin’s fire brigade said more than 100 firefighters were in attendance and it was not clear what caused the break.

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

It said it used rescue dogs to check the area inside the hotel for anyone potentially injured, with nobody found.

Police said “massive amounts” of water was flowing into nearby streets and people in the area should drive cautiously, the BBC reports.

A police source told local media there is no evidence that the incident was the result of a targeted attack.

The mayor of Berlin has visited the hotel to see the damage, and expressed her relief that the explosion happened in the early hours of the morning, pointing out that an hour or so later an the lobby would have been busy with visitors, many of them children.

AquaDom was opened in December 2003 and was given the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium.

According to reports at the time of its construction, it cost about €12.8m (£11.2m) to build.

It contained more than 100 different species of fish.

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