DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Water gushed from a leak in a shark-filled aquarium in ritzy Dubai Mall on Thursday, sending startled shoppers scattering and shutting down nearby shops in one of the city’s proudest attractions.
Amateur video footage posted on the website of Dubai newspaper Gulf News showed what appeared to be hundreds of gallons of water showering down on the tiled floor of the mall, which sits in the shadow of the world’s tallest tower.
The timing is unfortunate for Dubai, which is trying to restore its once-gilded image as it wades through a torrent of negative publicity generated by its burst property bubble, a crippling debt pile and the assassination of a top Hamas commander in a hotel last month.
The incident also raises new questions about building safety in the city-state, which pushed through ever more extravagant and complicated construction projects until the economic downturn halted its rapid-fire growth. Less than three weeks ago, trapped tourists had to be pulled from a stuck elevator in the mall owner’s record-breaking Burj Khalifa skyscraper nearby.
The breach in the 2.6 million-gallon tank at the mall, open little more than a year, was quickly plugged and caused no harm to the 33,000 fish inside, according to mall owner Emaar Properties. It was not clear when the attraction, featuring an “underwater” tunnel, would reopen.
