The 1,500 fish died, said a spokesperson for Union Investment, which manages the real estate fund that owns the property.
Efforts are under way to rescue fish from several smaller tanks that were near the AquaDom and that escaped destruction but have been subjected to power cuts in the building, he said.
A spokesperson for the fire brigade said it was still unclear what had caused the AquaDom aquarium to burst.
It was fortunate the accident happened so early in the morning, when there was hardly anybody in the immediate vicinity, Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey was quoted as saying.
“If this hadn't happened at 5.45am but even just one hour later, then we would probably have had terrible human loss to report,” broadcaster RBB quoted Giffey as saying.
Two people, including a hotel employee, were injured by splinters of glass, and emergency services asked about 350 hotel guests to pack their belongings and leave amid concerns there could be structural damage.
Buses were sent to provide shelter for the hotel guests, police said, as outside temperatures in Berlin in the morning hovered around -7°C.
Radisson told its Radisson Rewards loyalty club members in an e-mail the Radisson Collection Hotel Berlin was closed until further notice.
Sea Life Berlin said its team was shocked by the incident and trying to obtain more information from the owners of the AquaDom about what had caused the incident.
Huge Berlin aquarium bursts, spilling 1,500 fish onto road
A huge aquarium in Berlin burst on Friday, spilling a million litres of water, around 1,500 exotic fish and debris onto a major road in the busy Mitte district, emergency services said.
Around 100 emergency responders rushed to the site, a leisure complex that houses a Radisson hotel and a museum, as well as what Sea Life Berlin said was the world's largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium at 14 metres in height.
“It felt like an earthquake” said Naz Masraff, who had been staying at the hotel.
Another hotel guest, Sandra Weeser, spoke of chaos. “The whole aquarium burst and what’s left is total devastation. Lots of dead fish, debris,” she said.
The 1,500 fish died, said a spokesperson for Union Investment, which manages the real estate fund that owns the property.
Efforts are under way to rescue fish from several smaller tanks that were near the AquaDom and that escaped destruction but have been subjected to power cuts in the building, he said.
A spokesperson for the fire brigade said it was still unclear what had caused the AquaDom aquarium to burst.
It was fortunate the accident happened so early in the morning, when there was hardly anybody in the immediate vicinity, Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey was quoted as saying.
“If this hadn't happened at 5.45am but even just one hour later, then we would probably have had terrible human loss to report,” broadcaster RBB quoted Giffey as saying.
Two people, including a hotel employee, were injured by splinters of glass, and emergency services asked about 350 hotel guests to pack their belongings and leave amid concerns there could be structural damage.
Buses were sent to provide shelter for the hotel guests, police said, as outside temperatures in Berlin in the morning hovered around -7°C.
Radisson told its Radisson Rewards loyalty club members in an e-mail the Radisson Collection Hotel Berlin was closed until further notice.
Sea Life Berlin said its team was shocked by the incident and trying to obtain more information from the owners of the AquaDom about what had caused the incident.
The company, which had offered glass lift rides through the AquaDom aquarium, said it would also remain closed until further notice.
Emergency services shut a major road next to the complex that leads from Alexanderplatz towards the Brandenburg Gate due to the large volume of water that had flooded out of the building.
The aquarium was last refurbished in 2020, according to the website of the DomAquaree complex. During the upgrading work, all the water was drained from the tank and the fish were moved to aquariums in the basement of the building, where there is a breeding care facility for the fish, it said.
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