It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
BERLIN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - An aquarium in Berlin that was home to around 1,500 exotic fish burst early on Friday, spilling 1 million litres (264,172 gallons) of water and debris onto a major road in the busy Mitte district, emergency services said.
Around 100 emergency responders rushed to the scene, a leisure complex that houses a Radisson hotel, a museum, shops and restaurants as well as what the DomAquaree complex says is the world's largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium at 14 metres (46 ft) in height.
"In addition to the unbelievable maritime damage... two people were injured by glass splinters," Berlin police said on Twitter.
A spokesperson for the Berlin fire brigade said emergency responders had been unable to access the ground floor of the building due to the debris. Search and rescue dogs were being sent to the scene, he added.
The spokesperson said it was still unclear what had caused the aquarium to burst. Neither the fire brigade nor the police commented on the fate of the fish.
Around 350 people who had been staying at the hotel in the complex were asked to pack their belongings and leave the building, the fire brigade spokesperson said.
Buses were sent to the complex to provide shelter for people leaving the hotel as outside temperatures in Berlin were around -7 degrees Celsius (19.4°F), police said.
Emergency services shut a major road next to the complex that leads from Alexanderplatz toward the Brandenburg Gate due to the large volume of water that had flooded out of the building.
10.43 a.m .: Sea Life informs about "temporary" closure
As a reaction to the destruction of the Aquadom large aquarium, the operator informed visitors about the closure of Sea Life. On Friday the homepage read: "Due to the currently reported incident in connection with the AquaDom, Sea Life Berlin is unfortunately temporarily closed. You can rebook your booked tickets here free of charge. We ask for your understanding and will announce as soon as we are open again.”
10.40 a.m .: Berlin’s governing mayor speaks up
Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) thanked the forces at Sea Life. "Bad news from the bursting aquarium at Berlin Cathedral," she wrote on Twitter on Friday. "I would like to thank the emergency services for their commitment and I wish the injured a speedy recovery."
10.32 a.m .: Hotel guest reports: “The whole house smells strongly of fish”
The musician Iva Yudinski has been in the hotel since Thursday. "I heard a big explosion at 6 a.m.." At first, the 42-year-old thought it was a storm or something else. Then she saw what had happened. "There are police and fire brigade everywhere, there is a strong smell of fish throughout the house." She doesn't know yet whether breakfast will be served. "We actually wanted to stay until Sunday," she says, "but at the moment we don't know how things will continue."
10.15 a.m .: Like an earthquake – vibrations were measurable
When the aquarium exploded, earthquake-like signals were measured in Berlin early in the morning. As the website earthquakenews.de writes, the explosion "triggered vibrations that were measured 15 kilometers below the surface by Raspberry Shake stations. The strongest vibrations corresponded to a magnitude of 1.2.”
10.03 a.m .: Most of the living beings died – dead fish everywhere
Most of the 1,500 tropical fish from the giant aquarium that burst are probably dead. She was woken up in a deep sleep and initially thought of something like an earthquake, Weeser told the German Press Agency on Friday morning. But there was only a short bang and a "short tremor of the building". That's why she fell asleep again. She then found out from the media what had happened in the hotel. The police and fire brigade then later informed the guests.
originally posted by: DerBeobachter
Emblematic of the state of Germany...
originally posted by: sarahvital
poor fish.
glad no one was seriously hurt.
what a mess.
originally posted by: carewemust
originally posted by: sarahvital
poor fish.
glad no one was seriously hurt.
what a mess.
Could have put them on ice, cooked them, and fed 500 homeless people.
originally posted by: benstarr
There are 6 food banks within 5 miles of my house and some delivery,why would I want some fish like that
originally posted by: carewemust
originally posted by: sarahvital
poor fish.
glad no one was seriously hurt.
what a mess.
Could have put them on ice, cooked them, and fed 500 homeless people.
originally posted by: chris_stibrany
a reply to: benstarr
fish is tasty. but i am wondering how large most of those fish were.
originally posted by: Athetos
Comments like this always shock me. Usually the last thing on my mind is feeding dregs. I admire your compassion but sadly it’s misplaced on the homeless. I’ve never met a person who didn’t absolutely deserve their homelessness every street walker I’ve met is a culmination of bad choices for often the entirety of their lives.
I have a saying a about the local homeless and I’ve send it to their faces a few times. I could give you my home and all my money but you would definitely F it up and end up right back where you are because the problem isn’t that your poor or that cold or hungry or high or any of it. The problem is inside you and only you can fix it terrible people often meet terrible fates.
a reply to: carewemust
originally posted by: Athetos
Comments like this always shock me. Usually the last thing on my mind is feeding dregs. I admire your compassion but sadly it’s misplaced on the homeless. I’ve never met a person who didn’t absolutely deserve their homelessness every street walker I’ve met is a culmination of bad choices for often the entirety of their lives.
I have a saying a about the local homeless and I’ve send it to their faces a few times. I could give you my home and all my money but you would definitely F it up and end up right back where you are because the problem isn’t that your poor or that cold or hungry or high or any of it. The problem is inside you and only you can fix it terrible people often meet terrible fates.