Police officers carry a plastic tub with rescued fish after a huge aquarium bursts in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. German police say a huge fish tank in the center of Berlin has burst, causing a wave of devastation in and around the Sea Life tourist attraction. ()

BERLIN — A U.S. company that helped build a huge aquarium in Berlin says it is sending a team to investigate the rupture of the tank, which sent a wave of debris, water and tropical fish crashing through the hotel lobby it was located in and onto the street outside.

Reynolds Polymer Technology, which says it manufactured and installed the cylinder component of the AquaDom tank 20 years ago, said in an emailed statement that “at this point, it is too early to determine the factor or factors that would produce such a failure.”

Police have said they found no evidence of a malicious act but the cause of the spectacular collapse shortly before 6 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 16, in which two people were slightly injured, remains unclear. Berlin’s top security official, Iris Spranger, told German news agency dpa that “first indications point to material fatigue.”

Officials said the hotel building itself was assessed to be safe.

The local government said that nearly all of the 1,500 fish that were inside at the time of the rupture died but “a few fish at the bottom of the tank” were saved. About 400 to 500 mostly small fish from a separate set of aquariums housed under the hotel lobby were evacuated to other tanks in a neighboring aquarium that was unaffected.

The AquaDom aquarium opened in December 2003 and was modernized in 2020.

Grand Junction, Colorado-based Reynolds Polymer, which says on its website that 41 of its acrylic panels were used in building the tank cylinder, said it “offers its sincere concern” to the hotel guests and workers who were affected and to those who were injured. It said that “we are also deeply saddened by the animals and aquatic life lost.”

Crabbers, fishermen seek US aid after disaster declaration

SEATTLE — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s disaster declaration for certain salmon and crab fisheries in Washington and Alaska opens the door for financial relief as part of an omnibus spending bill being negotiated by U.S. lawmakers.

The declaration Friday, Dec. 16, covers Bristol Bay king crab harvests suspended for two years, and the snow crab harvest that will be canceled for the first time in 2023. Also covered are 2021 salmon harvests from Alaska’s Kuskokwim River and 2019 and 2020 Washington salmon fisheries, The Seattle Times reported.

Washington’s and Alaska’s congressional delegations can now try to secure funds in the omnibus bill that must pass in order to fund the U.S. government through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The money would help fishing and crabbing fleets and the communities that depend on them.

“I appreciate all the efforts to speed up this process. The next step is for Congress to act,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, which is hoping for aid that could top $280 million to the crab industry and communities where the catch is processed.

A Commerce Department disaster declaration, under federal law, can be made for a commercial fishery failure due to causes such as a run failure beyond the control of fishery managers.

Some Washington and Alaska fisheries have been buffeted by marine heat waves that appear to have reduced survival rates for some species, such as the snow crab populations, which collapsed after temperatures spiked in the Bering Sea.

The disaster relief funds would be allocated to the Commerce Department, which would then release the assistance through NOAA Fisheries, the newspaper reported.