Emergencies - The giant aquarium in Berlin burst a year ago
Around one million liters of water poured into a hotel and the surrounding streets in Berlin's city centre a year ago. It came as a shock to many when the 16-metre-high giant aquarium broke into hundreds of pieces on 16 December 2022 and thousands of fish died. Two people were slightly injured and numerous stores in the building complex were damaged by the masses of water.
The extent of the damage can still be seen a year after the disaster. Many stores in the building complex are closed and separated by fences. On one day in December, workmen were out and about in the alleyway where the fragments, some weighing several tons, were collected. The spokesman for the building owner, Fabian Hellbusch, said that most of the stores should reopen by next spring. The hotel is still closed.
"Imagining a disaster like the sudden bursting of the large aquarium in the lobby of our Berlin hotels would have required a special kind of imagination a year ago," said Hellbusch. "We are happy and grateful that, all in all, it turned out very well and that we managed to repair the damage very quickly." What remains is the beautiful memory of the Aquadom, which has brought great joy to many people over the years.
Public prosecutor's office discontinued its investigation
For some, a bitter taste may remain, as the cause of the accident could not be finally clarified. Expert and engineer Christian Bonten presented three damage hypotheses in October. According to this, the aquarium could have burst due to the failure of an adhesive seam, due to damage during renovation or due to the plastic drying out. The expert also considered a combination of damage to be possible, but cautioned: "We have no clear evidence for the various damage hypotheses." Like a large jigsaw puzzle, Bonten had spent months putting the pieces together and examining them.
The public prosecutor's office closed its investigation in October. The authority had checked whether there were any possible persons responsible or whether someone could have acted negligently.
What remains are the huge steel supports of the aquarium, which are to remain in the hotel lobby, and the question: can a new aquarium of this size hold up? The initiators of a planned hotel with an aquarium called "Ocean Berlin" in Berlin-Lichtenberg are convinced that it can. The aquarium is scheduled to open in early 2026, as a spokeswoman for the Israeli company Coral World told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Several tanks with a total of around ten million liters of water are planned. A selection of 3000 fish has already been made. The largest tank will reportedly hold 7.5 million liters - more than seven times as much as the Aquadom.
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Fabian Hellbusch expressed gratitude that the incident at the Aquadom resulted in minimal harm, considering the unprecedented nature of the aquarium's sudden burst a year prior. Despite the public prosecutor's office closing its investigation without identifying a definitive cause, some remain dissatisfied with the lack of clarity regarding the accident's cause. The broken Aquadom's giant steel supports still stand in the hotel lobby, with plans for a new, even larger aquarium, called "Ocean Berlin", set to open in early 2026 in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Despite having a capacity of around ten million liters of water, more than seven times that of the Aquadom, its initiators are confident in its safety. Hellbusch, who managed the affected building complex, shared optimism for the future restoration of the stores, aiming for most to reopen by the following spring.
Source: www.stern.de
