A huge aquarium within the lobby of a sublime Berlin hotel burst on Friday morning, throwing greater than 200,000 gallons of water and 1,500 tropical fish onto the streets.
At the least two people were injured when the 52-meter AquaDom aquarium exploded on the Radisson Collection hotel shortly before 6am local time, German police said. 300 guests were evacuated from the hotel by over 100 rescuers.
Video of the aftermath of the incident shows glass and other debris scattered across the lobby and road.
It’s speculated that freezing overnight temperatures of 14 degrees Fahrenheit caused a rupture within the tank, which then ruptured under the burden of the water. Police say there is no such thing as a evidence that the incident was the results of a deliberate attack.
Almost the entire 1,500 fish within the tank have died, the district government of Berlin Mitte tweeted, adding that “just a few fish at the underside of the tank” could still be saved.
The impressive display featured 80 kinds of fish, including blue tang and clownfish, two species featured in the kids’s film Finding Nemo.
“It’s an image of destruction with plenty of dead fish and broken pieces” – Sandra Weeser, Member of Parliament who stayed on the Radisson Blu Hotel he said in an interview afterward Friday morning.
” [fish] that would have been saved froze to death.
One other witness, Gwendolin Szyszkowitz, told German n-tv she heard a loud bang and initially feared a bomb had gone off.
According Recent York Timesaround 1,500 tropical fish representing 100 different species were kept in a cylindrical aquarium that surrounded the hotel’s glass elevator.
Tank that set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium, which reportedly cost $14 million to construct when it debuted at Radisson Blu in 2003.
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