Berlin mayor says ‘real tsunami’ over aquarium explosion

Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey said the explosion at a giant aquarium that poured 1 million liters of water onto the streets of the German capital on Friday 16/12 was a “true tsunami”.

Despite all the devastation, Giffey said he was “relaxed” as the tragedy could have been much bigger. According to him, this was “great luck” because if the incident had taken place hours later, it would have resulted in “terrible human casualties”.

The explosion at the Aquadom tourist center in central Berlin caused fragments of shrapnel, injuring two people slightly. It was reported that firefighters were taken to the hospital.

Located in the lobby of a hotel, the aquarium contained the world’s largest cylindrical tank of its kind, 16 meters high and 11.5 meters in diameter, housing 1,500 exotic fish from 100 species. The attraction was very popular with tourists, including children, and visitors could tour the inside of the aquarium by elevator.

The incident occurred around 05:45 am local time, a loud noise was heard in the area. Around 100 firefighters were dispatched to the building, where the museum, shops and restaurants are located, as well as the hotel. There is no official information about whether the injured were hotel employees or guests.

The building is not in danger of collapsing.

According to firefighters, the ground floor was completely destroyed and filled with rubble. Searched by agents with rescue dogs.

“There’s no one missing in the building, it’s purely a safety precaution,” a fire department spokesperson said. Cleaning work continued from morning to evening.

Civil engineers checked the stability of the building where the aquarium was located and concluded that there was no risk of collapse.

Approximately 350 guests at the hotel at the time of the incident were evacuated and first placed on buses. They were later placed in other hotels.

‘I thought it was an earthquake’

A spokesperson for the fire department explained that water from the aquarium “leaked almost completely into both the building and Karl-Liebknecht Street”.

“When the aquarium exploded due to the high water pressure, it picked up several objects that are now scattered across the street,” he said.

The aquarium was located in the closed hall of the building and could be seen from the hotel room windows.

A witness reported to the German newspaper Bild that he heard a loud explosion. “Then I looked ahead and saw that there was a lot of furniture scattered around. I noticed that the aquarium had just exploded and the stuff was being washed,” he said.

One hotel guest described the moment of the explosion: “The whole bed was shaking, I thought it was an earthquake”.

German MP Sandra Weeser was also staying at the hotel at the time of the explosion. To him, the place looked like a “battlefield” after the event. Fish that could have been saved froze to death,” she said.

some fish survived

Most of the fish in the aquarium died. Some survived, however, and were found in a water bowl next to the elevator. They were taken to tanks in the neighboring aquarium Sea Life, as were the hundreds of fish in smaller aquariums in the building’s basement, which were in danger of dying from the building’s power outage.

Peta, the animal welfare organization, said it would take legal action.

Emphasizing that the destruction of the aquarium is a “great man-made tragedy”, the spokesperson of the organization said, “We will file a criminal complaint against those responsible for neglecting the lives of approximately 1500 fish.” The site for the association should not be rebuilt.

DDR museum affected

The brine from the tank flowed into the Berlin sewer system and partly into the basement of the building.

The nearby DDR Museum, which houses a permanent exhibit on what life was like in former East Germany, was also affected. The museum board announced that about 30% of the exhibition space was affected. The site will likely have to be down for a few months, although the damage isn’t huge.

Investigation does not point to terrorism

The police sent about 100 police to the scene. Authorities do not yet know what caused the incident, but there is no indication that it was a terrorist attack.

According to Berlin Interior Minister Iris Spranger, the main hypothesis is that the event was caused by the deterioration of the aquarium structure.

Spranger told German news agency DPA: “Of course, the investigation into the incident is not yet complete, but the first signs are that the material has deteriorated.” He also wished the injured a speedy recovery.

In 2020, the aquarium underwent a renovation, which, according to the mayor of Berlin, cost about 2 million euros.

Speaking to the Bild newspaper, Florian Schuran of aquarium construction company New Wave said he believed in the hypothesis that there was a malfunction in the material.

“The aquarium is 18 years old and several pieces are glued together, so there are always weak spots that could fail,” he said. New Wave was not responsible for building the Aquadom.

According to Berlin police spokesman Martin Stralau, the low temperatures may have contributed to the rupture of the aquarium. The city was registered around -7°C at the time of the incident.

In December 2012, the glass of an outdoor shark tank in a shopping mall in Shanghai, China, exploded, injuring 16 people. At the time, the alleged cause of the incident was a combination of temperature difference and brittle material.

What does the owner of the aquarium say?

According to the Union Invest fund, owner of the building complex that includes the aquarium in Berlin, the wall thickness of the outer acrylic cylinder was 22 centimeters at the bottom and 18 centimeters at the top. The water temperature was between 26 and 27 degrees. Experts now need to confirm whether temperatures really play a role.

“After 15 years of use, the aquarium went through a major overhaul two years ago. The seals at the bottom were renewed and an additional level of sealing was installed. The cylinder made of acrylic was repaired and polished in places. The elevator,” said Fabian Hellbusch, spokesperson for Union Invest.

According to Hellbusch, there was no sign of damage. “We’re still in the process of figuring out how this truly awful situation could have come about.”

Like Giffey, he spoke of “luck in misfortune”, considering the extent the tragedy would have taken had it occurred soon after.

Manfred Rank, director general of the Confederation of German Aquarium Societies, commented that it is necessary to clarify why the cylinder exploded. According to him, the weak point in an aquarium of this size is usually silicone, not acrylic.