An aquarium in Berlin housing nearly 1,500 fish burst on Friday, Dec. 16, sending hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, glass and debris into a busy street in the German capital, authorities said.
The DomAquaree complex, which includes a hotel, a museum, shops and restaurants, was flooded with water after the world's largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium at 46 feet in height burst just before 6 a.m., police told the Associated Press.
The wave of water from the AquaDom tourist attraction swept out of the building and into the street. Two people were injured by glass splinters, police said in a tweet.
Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey told the Associated Press the early morning timing of the incident had prevented many injuries.
"Despite all the destruction, we were still very lucky. We would have had terrible human damage," Giffey said. "Unfortunately, none of the 1,500 fish could be saved."
A spokesperson for the Berlin fire brigade told Reuters search and rescue dogs were being sent to the scene as first responders had not been able to access the ground floor of the complex due to the debris.
"We have not yet been able to walk the first floor completely, which is probably where these fish will be," Adrian Wentzel, a spokesperson for Berlin's fire service, told the Associated Press. "But the thing is that the water has completely leaked out and these about 1,400 fish that were in this aquarium could not be saved either."
Crews were working to save an additional 400 to 500 fish in smaller aquariums underneath the hotel lobby, the Associated Press reports.
About 350 guests staying at the hotel surrounding the aquarium had to pack their belongings and evacuate. Sandra Weeser, a German lawmaker who was staying in the hotel, told the Associated Press she woke up after hearing a large bang and thought there may have been an earthquake.
"There are shards (of glass) everywhere. The furniture, everything has been flooded with water," she said. "It looks a bit like a war zone."
Fire officials told Reuters it is still unclear what caused the aquarium to burst, but police said there is no evidence it was from an attack.
