“My first thought was that I was going to die,” says Fabienne Spengler (24) from Kreuzlingen TG to Blick. While spending her first night in Berlin, she is awakened by an explosion around 5:45 am on Friday. Suddenly sirens go off. She thinks about going on a killing spree.
Luckily it’s not that bad. One of the largest aquariums in the world has just burst: the Aquadom at the Hotel Radisson Blu. A million liters of water, a coral reef with about 1500 tropical fish. Spengler was one of the hotel guests who witnessed the disaster when the «St. Galler Tagblatt» reported.
The 24-year-old stands up and looks in panic through the peephole of her room door. She sees two firefighters. Spengler opens the door and asks what’s going on, “What happened? I’m scared.” The two emergency services wave them off, saying nothing bad has happened. Still, she would have to go back into the room. minutes pass. Spengler takes out her cell phone and tries to figure out what might be going on on the internet. And she finds it. “If the explosion had happened an hour later at breakfast, I probably would have been dead. I really had a guardian angel.”
“I leave the lights on at night”
After an hour, all hotel guests are taken outside. Then she sees the full scope of the catastrophe. Spengler on Blick: “Everything was flooded, there was broken glass on the floor, chairs were everywhere. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it in my life.”
She is disappointed with how the hotel has reacted in this situation. “No one could give me any information. I was on my own and didn’t know what was going on.” After the guests were taken out, they were taken by bus to another hotel. But the Swiss doesn’t want to stay here. “I checked out quickly because I just went to wanted to go home.” She actually wanted to stay in the German capital until Sunday. But the shock was deep in her. The incident has left its mark. “I still can’t sleep well and leave the light on at night.”
Extraction work continues
It is still unclear why the mega-aquarium was able to burst in the first place. The American company Reynolds Polymer Technology, which was involved in the construction of the burst aquarium, announced that it would send a team to Berlin to investigate the incident. The chaos in the hotel has now largely been eliminated. “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.”
Surviving fish were distributed to other aquariums. It is unclear when the hotel will reopen. 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.” (lrc/SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
