BERLIN, Germany. The investigation into the dramatic collapse of the AquaDom aquarium in Berlin has been officially closed by prosecutors, as the cause of the tank’s rupture remains unclear. The incident, which occurred in December, led to a massive release of 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of water from the lobby of a city-center hotel, resulting in minor injuries to two individuals.
Prosecutors had been conducting an investigation into unknown persons on suspicion of causing bodily harm by negligence. However, the case reached a standstill after an expert report, commissioned by the building’s owners and received on October 6, failed to conclusively determine the cause.
Engineer Christian Bonten, the report’s author, presented three theories but could not provide clear evidence for any of them. The hypotheses suggested that the aquarium’s adhesive seam may have failed, the tank might have been damaged during a 2020 modernization, or that the tank could have been refilled too late, causing the acrylic glass walls to dry excessively.
Given the lack of a definitive cause, prosecutors found no basis to pursue any potential responsible parties and emphasized that there were no suspicions of deliberate wrongdoing.
The AquaDom aquarium, which originally opened in 2003, will not be rebuilt. It was reported that most of the 1,500 fish inside the tank at the time of the rupture perished, while a small number at the tank’s bottom were saved. Around 400 to 500 small fish from separate aquariums beneath the hotel lobby were relocated to other tanks in an adjacent, unaffected aquarium.
Paraluman P. Funtanilla
Paraluman P. Funtanilla is Tutubi News Magazine's Marketing Specialist and is a Contributing Editor. She finished her degree in Communication Arts in De La Salle Lipa. She has worked as a Digital Marketer for start-up businesses and small business spaces for the past two years. She has earned certificates from Coursera on Brand Management: Aligning Business Brand and Behavior and Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content. She also worked with Asia Express Romania TV Show.
