Berlin’s AquaDom aquarium containing 1,500 tropical fish bursts causing major flooding

The world’s largest free standing cylindrical aquarium, Berlin’s AquaDom, has burst open causing major flooding in a hotel and on nearby streets.

The world’s largest free standing cylindrical aquarium, Berlin’s AquaDom, has burst open. The 14 metre (45 ft) high aquarium contained 1,500 tropical fish, and police have described the incident as having caused “incredible maritime damage”.

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The aquarium is located in the lobby of the Radisson Blu hotel in central Berlin, with the incident causing severe damage to the hotel foyer as 1 million litres of water have been spilled. Massive amounts of water as well as debris has also poured into the street in front of the building, which has since been closed off due to flooding.

It is currently not clear what caused the break, and the Berlin fire brigade has said they have more than 100 firefighters at the scene. Berlin’s public transport authority also said that they have closed off Karl-Liebknecht street right outside the Radisson hotel due to "an extreme amount of water on the road".

The news of the Berlin aquarium comes only days after chimpanzees escaped at the Furuvik zoo in Sweden. The primates  broke free from their enclosure, and are still on the loose inside the monkey house.

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As of Thursday, three chimpanzees have still not been recaptured, while three others were tragically shot to death by authorities. A seventh chimpanzee was injured after which it returned to its enclosure.

The incident has forced the atraction to close, with Annika Troselius, a spokesperson for the zoo telling Swedish broadcaster SVT: “Our focus right now is to get an overview of where the four are now so that we can start working on getting them back to their enclosures in a safe way.

“We have to think about people’s lives and safety in the first place. No employees are allowed to work in close contact with animals like this.”

In October, a venomous king cobra escaped briefly from another zoo in Sweden.

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