The giant aquarium at the Hotel Radisson Blu in Berlin erupted on Friday – with fatal consequences for the fish. In addition, two people – a hotel employee and a guest – were injured by the broken glass.
Everything in the flooded hotel lobby broke when, after the loud bang, a million liters of water poured out of the destroyed Plexiglas cylinder, among other things, into the hotel and the street. According to information from Saturday, at least six other shops have suffered damage in the building complex.
“Cleaning work in the outdoor area has been completed so far,” said Fabian Hellbusch, spokesperson for building owner Union Investment, on Sunday. “Extraction work is still taking place in the underground car park, although the company has made very good progress there.”
Almost all fish dead
Surviving fish were distributed to other aquariums. A total of 1,500 fish lived in the 16-meter high Aquadom – almost all of them died in the accident. However, some were lucky.
According to the fire service, some water has collected in the ring, which was actually intended to stabilize the aquarium. “Three big buckets full” of live fish were rescued from this area, a fire department spokesman said after the tragedy.
Time and time again, live fish have been found in puddles under rubble. According to the owner of the building, about 630 fish have been rescued from the underground breeding tanks and transferred to Berlin’s Tierpark, the zoo, Sealife in the Dom Aquarée and a network of specialist breeders.
American experts are investigating the accident
However, the search for the cause continues. According to building owner Union Investment, it was still unclear on Saturday what caused the aquarium to burst. There was no new information on Sunday either.
Several specialized companies are involved in the research. The American company Reynolds Polymer Technology, which was involved in the construction of the burst aquarium, also announced that it would send a team to Berlin to investigate the incident.
The building is not in danger of collapsing, Hellbusch said. Structural studies are still taking place. Experts must therefore examine the areas from Monday to determine the damage. A police spokeswoman said: “At this time, nothing indicates there is anything criminally relevant in the room.”
It could have ended worse for people
For people, Friday morning’s incident was a near miss — had the aquarium burst into a busy hotel at a later date, security forces and politicians say it could have been worse.
“There is understandably no timetable yet for the hotel to reopen,” the building owner said over the weekend. The priority is to record the extent of the damage and to guarantee safety during the clean-up work.
The fate of the Aquadom is also unclear. “It is not yet possible to say whether the Aquadom will be rebuilt or whether an alternative use is possible.” (SDA/man)