A year ago, around a million liters of water poured into a hotel and the surrounding streets in downtown Berlin. It was a shock for many when the 16 meter high giant aquarium broke into hundreds of fragments on December 16, 2022 and thousands of fish died. Two people were slightly injured and numerous shops in the building complex were damaged by the floodwaters.
The extent of the damage can still be seen a year after the accident. Many shops in the building complex are closed and separated by construction fences. One day in December, craftsmen are out and about in the alley where the fragments, some of which weighed several tons, were collected. The building owner’s spokesman, Fabian Hellbusch, said most of the shops should reopen by next spring. The hotel is still closed.
“Imagining an accident like the sudden bursting of the large aquarium in the lobby of our Berlin hotels would have required a special imagination a year ago,” said Hellbusch. “We are happy and grateful that the bottom line was that it turned out very lightly and that we managed to regulate the damage very well and quickly.” The beautiful memory of the Aquadom remains, which has brought great joy to many people over the years.
The public prosecutor’s office stopped its investigation
For some, a bitter taste may remain because the cause of the accident could not be finally clarified. Expert and engineer Christian Bonten presented three damage hypotheses in October. Accordingly, the aquarium could have burst due to the failure of an adhesive seam, damage during renovation or the plastic drying out. The expert also considered a combination of damages to be possible, but pointed out: “We have no clear evidence for the different damage hypotheses.” Like a large puzzle, Bonten had put the pieces together and examined them for months.
The public prosecutor’s office closed its investigation in October. The authorities had checked whether there were possible responsible parties or whether someone could have acted negligently.
What remains are the aquarium’s giant steel supports, which will 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 of this. The opening of the aquarium is planned for the beginning of 2026, as a spokeswoman for the Israeli company Coral World announced at the request of the German Press Agency. Several pools with a total of around ten million liters of water are planned. A selection of 3,000 fish has already been made. According to the information, the largest pool will hold 7.5 million liters – more than seven times as much as the Aquadom.
