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Dubai Mall aquarium develops leak; partly evacuated
by Samia Sehgal - February 25, 2010 - comments
A leakage was noticed at one of the panel joints of the aquarium at The Dubai Mall.
A massive aquarium containing thousands of sea animals in Dubai developed a leak, forcing The Dubai Mall to be partly evacuated on Thursday. Water was seen gushing out of the tank, but animals in the aquarium were said to be safe.
“There was a small problem, a simple crack, and the water leaked,” said a police official.
The aquarium, featuring largest viewing panel of the world that is 32.8 meters wide and 8.3 meters high, adorns the giant Dubai Mall as its centerpiece. It is designed to hold 10 million liters of water and contains more than 33,000 underwater creatures including some 400 sharks and sting rays.
Another hit for Emaar
The leak is the latest in line of many recent problems to hit Emaar Properties, which operates the mall.
“A leakage was noticed at one of the panel joints of the Dubai Aquarium at The Dubai Mall and was immediately fixed by the aquarium's maintenance team,” an Emaar spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
“The leakage did not impact the aquarium environment or the safety of the aquatic animals,” she said.
As water leaked out, people tried to get out of the way while six divers entered the tank to manage the situation by coordinating with workers outside the glass. Emergency vehicles were rushed to the scene at the world's largest building the Burj Khalifa as the aquarium is built on its foot.
"If the glass were to shatter the water would be all over the place. It’s disappointing,” said a visitor. “It seems that as they’re building things here, they’re crumbling at the same time.”
Despite the videos of the incident being available online, Emaar's Chairman Mohammed Alabbar, reportedly denied the leak in the aquarium initially, saying there was a “technical fault in the operating device.”
Prestigious projects tumbling
The recently opened Dubai Mall pulled 37 million visitors during its first year of operation. It is counted among the prestigious projects of Emaar Properties, which has faced several serious issues of late.
Earlier this month, a lift malfunction caused the closure of the viewing deck at the Burj Khalifa.
"Emaar has always been known as a quality developer, but they’ve been under pressure to finish Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa," Saud Masud, head of Middle East research at UBS AG, was quoted as saying by the WSJ.
“I’m not surprised that they’ve had maintenance issues. They’ve definitely put into question their quality and are compromising their quality over volume,” Masud added.