The world’s largest cylindrical aquarium, with 1,500 tropical fish, bursts in Berlin

The AquaDom, the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world, located inside the Radisson Blu hotel in Berlin, burst this morning for unknown reasons, spilling out a million liters (264,000 gallons) of water and the 1,500 tropical fish it housed. The flood has caused two minor injuries due to glass cuts, according to Berlin’s fire service, and damage to the hotel that has yet to be assessed.

The explosion at the aquarium, a massive 25-meter-tall (82 feet) cylinder standing in the center of the lobby at the Raddison Blu hotel, took place shortly before 6 am and generated a flood that extended out to Karl-Liebknecht Strasse, one of the busiest streets in the center of the German capital.

The blast also spilled out the 1,500 fish that the aquarium contained, many of which were dragged by the torrent into the Berlin sewers.

Mayor Franziska Giffey said the tank 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.

“I only heard a very loud noise and saw that the big aquarium had broken. Then I looked outside and saw that there was a lot of furniture lying on the street and then I realized that the aquarium had burst and things had been dragged out”, a witness declared.

According to the newspaper Bild , the incident is the result of material fatigue, despite the fact that the AquaDom reopened in the summer of 2020 after two and a half years of renovation work at a cost of €2.6 million.

The aquarium was one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area, along with the cathedral and the museums.