World's Largest Freestanding Cylindrical Aquarium Bursts In Berlin

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A freestanding cylindrical aquarium housing about 1,500 exotic fish burst in Berlin on Friday morning, causing a wave of devastation in and around the tourist attraction. Glass, chairs, tables and other debris were swept out of the DomAquaree complex, which includes a Radisson hotel, a museum, shops and restaurants, as 1 million liters of water poured out of the 14-meter-high (46ft) tank shortly before 6am.

Police said two people sustained injuries from falling shards of glass and had to be taken to hospital. None of the animals inside the saltwater aquarium, which contained clownfish, teira batfish and palette surgeonfish, survived. Material fatigue was the likeliest cause of the incident, Berlin's interior minister said on Friday afternoon. 'Investigations are of course not yet complete, but first signs suggest we are dealing with material fatigue,' Iris Spranger told the DPA news agency.

First opened in 2003, the aquarium was overhauled as recently as 2020. A spokesperson for the company that owns the structure said additional insulation was added and the glass cylinder polished as part of the maintenance works. Earlier in the day, there had been speculation that overnight temperatures of as low as -10C (14F) had caused a crack in the glass, which is 18cm (7in) thick at the top and 22cm at the bottom of the cylindrical structure. Operators said the aquarium was the biggest cylindrical tank in the world, containing 1,500 tropical fish of 80 different species before the incident. One of the highlights of the attraction was a 10-minute elevator ride through the tank, which would have taken place at 10am. According to the city's fire department, only about 30 of the roughly 1,500 fish were saved after the incident. Berlin's zoo has offered to take them in.

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