“We heard a strong explosion and rumble,” is how tourists who found themselves in the hotel where the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world burst describe their impressions. We are talking about the Radisson Blu hotel, where a local landmark – Dom Aquaree – an aquarium with a height of 16 meters and a diameter of 11.5 meters, stood until recently. The aquarium separately attracted residents and tourists – hotel guests could ride the elevator through the aquarium and look at the fish that live in it for 19 euros.
But around six o’clock in the morning on Friday, as reported by Bild, the first call to the emergency services came with the message that the aquarium had burst.
“Early in the morning, around 6 o’clock, I heard a loud explosion, a rumble. I did not understand what was happening at all. I called my friend and went to her room. From there we saw the aquarium and all the destruction. Everything was covered with water,” said tourists who were in the hotel at that time.
Moreover, they were lucky – as the publication clarifies, in the hotel, a stream of water from the aquarium knocked out some doors and windows, and also flooded the entire basement. According to the police, at least two people were injured by broken glass. According to the publication, all the fish from the aquarium — and there were more than one and a half thousand of them — died.
Even Karl-Liebknecht Strasse, where the hotel is located, had to be closed due to the NP. The turbulent flow of water – the aquarium held at least 1 million liters – blew away all the doors of the hotel, and the street was flooded with water, traffic was limited by it. Emergency personnel and the fire brigade are working at the scene.
The reasons for the disaster are still unclear, but it has already been suggested that the Dom Aquaree burst due to “material fatigue”. At the same time, the aquarium was opened after a two-and-a-half-year renovation only this summer. The reconstruction cost 2.6 million euros.