Reynolds Polymer Technology, the American company that participated in the construction of the aquarium that exploded in Berlin on Friday (16), sent a team of specialists to Germany to investigate the causes of the incident.
The AquaDom, considered the largest independent cylindrical aquarium in the world, almost 16 meters high, housed 1,500 exotic fish and was located at the Radisson Blu hotel, in the center of the German capital and close to other tourist attractions, such as the Berlin Cathedral, Alexanderplatz and the Brandenburg Gate.
According to German authorities, nearly all of the fish died after the explosion, which spilled more than 1 million liters of water and debris onto a street in the busy Mitte district.
“It is still too early to determine the factor or factors that led to a crack like this,” Reynolds Polymer Technology said in a statement, according to reports in German newspapers Die Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The company claimed to have built and installed the AquaDom’s plexiglass window. It also conveyed its “condolences to hotel guests, affected employees and injured persons”. “We are very sorry for the loss of animals and aquatic life forms. Thanks to the staff and rescuers who were able to transport and save some of the fish.”
Two people were injured by shrapnel after the aquarium exploded, including a Radisson employee. About 350 hotel guests evacuated at the request of emergency crews, who fear structural damage. According to rescuers, there is still five centimeters of water in the hotel’s underground garage.
In testimony to Sheetpeople who were at the scene at the time of the accident described the scene as “a tsunami”.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but one of the suspicions of the authorities is that the low temperatures caused cracks in the structure, which ended up giving in to the pressure of the thousand tons of water. There are still suspicions that there was material fatigue.
AquaDom was closed for renovations in October 2019. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it remained closed for almost three years, until June of this year. According to the company that manages it, the aquarium housed species ranging from clownfish, like the one from the movie “Finding Nemo”, to seahorses, jellyfish and stingrays.
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