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Surviving fish were retrieved from the hotel
PHOTO: JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
After the giant aquarium Aquadom burst in Berlin, the capital's fire brigade found a few dozen fish alive in one area of the burst vessel.
Special forces rescued them, fire department spokesman James Klein told the dpa news agency.
"I think there were about three vats in number," said Klein.
The fire department also confirmed this on Twitter.
However, conflicting information circulated as to exactly which part of the tank the fish were found in.
These are freshwater and saltwater fish, Klein told the dpa.
The animals would now be housed separately.
The saltwater fish are therefore coming to the neighboring underwater world Sea Life with other aquariums.
The freshwater fish are to be brought to the zoo's aquariums on Saturday.
"In order not to expose them to the stress today," Klein explained, according to dpa.
The so-called Aquadom was an aquarium with 1500 fish and an elevator in the middle.
The large aquarium in the form of a huge transparent cylinder was located in the atrium of a hotel.
The underwater world Sea Life with other aquariums is located a little further away in the same building complex.
It is still unclear why the Aquadom burst.
(Read here why most fish didn't stand a chance.)
Fish recovered from twelve other aquariums
Fire brigade spokesman Klein said according to dpa that there were twelve more aquariums with saltwater fish in the basement of the hotel building.
The animals were rescued and brought to Sea Life.
Berlin-Mitte City Councilor for the Environment, Almut Neumann, had previously reported that there were several aquariums with around 400 to 500 smaller fish in the basement of the hotel building.
She had described their situation as critical because the vessels were not supplied with electricity.
"That's a problem.
The fish in the aquarium need electricity to supply them with oxygen.«
According to the Technical Relief Agency (THW), the pumping work should last into the night.
Specialist advisor Friedrich Engel spoke to dpa of a debris field inside the building.
In the early evening, the helpers were pumping the underground car park empty, at the same time the last koi carp were saved under the rubble, according to Engel.
The animal protection organization Peta has announced that it is considering legal action against Sea Life and in the afternoon called for "a memorial for the 1,500 sea creatures that have died".
kko/dpa