Shark-Filled Aquarium Shatters on Shoppers

A 33.5-ton aquarium housing sharks, fish, and turtles burst in a Shanghai shopping mall last week, injuring 16 people as it sprayed shoppers with broken glass, water, and marine animals, reports the Telegraph. A video just now made available shows the tank rupture without warning, sending pieces of 6-inch-thick acrylic glass flying. Most of the animals in the aquarium died, including three lemon sharks and a number of fish and turtles.

Officials are blaming cold temperatures and old materials for the dramatic rupture, though the aquarium was reportedly just two years old, according to the Shanghai Daily. The breakage also smashed several adjoining cosmetic counters and sent water flooding out into the street. "We will not build an aquarium again in the future," said a mall official. (More Shanghai stories.)