 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Aquarium visitors plunge into terror
©Associated Press NEW ORLEANS -- As sharks swam beneath their feet, 10 aquarium visitors who fell into the tank thrashed around in terror for up to 15 minutes before they were pulled out. A catwalk over the water collapsed Wednesday night, sending the guests, including four children, into the 20-foot-deep tank. No one was seriously hurt. One of the onlookers, 8-year-old Amanda Kruse, said most of the sharks scattered, but she saw one cruising underneath the panicked visitors. "Its lips were peeled back and its teeth were showing," Amanda said. "It was very scary," said Allison Rooney, 21, who fell in with her 2-year-old daughter. "When I first looked down, I saw a stingray right underneath me and I just freaked out. I was scared to death what I would do if I saw a shark." Officials at the Aquarium of the Americas were investigating what caused the accident at the Gulf of Mexico exhibit, which includes about 24 nurse and sand tiger sharks, some of them 10 feet long. The catwalk is normally reserved for staff but was opened for a behind-the-scenes tour for aquarium members. When it buckled, the group was thrown into the 400,000-gallon tank along with a 38-foot section of the platform. "All of sudden I heard something go bam, and the long catwalk split in half right in the middle and it dropped everybody straight into the water," said Dan Rooney, whose two daughters, 2-year-old granddaughter and 5-year-old nephew plunged in. Daughter Allison Rooney told CNN: "Ironically, the man was telling us that if anybody ever fell into the water, that the sharks are well-fed and that they would scatter. . . . Well, not even two seconds later, sure enough the whole thing just collapsed." The water level is about 3 feet below the slick edges of the glass-walled tank, so there was no way for those inside to get out without help. Many clung to the mock oil platform in the center of the tank. Adults tried to hold small children above the water, splashing around and scattering sandals, makeup kits and brochures inside the tank. "The water is clear so you could see the stingrays and sharks swimming beneath them," Dan Rooney said. "I know the sharks are well-fed, but with all that splashing you wonder if their hunter instincts are going to kick in." Like many of those who fell in, Erin Rooney, 14, was scraped by the barnacle-encrusted support poles of the mock oil platform. "It happened so fast I didn't really think about the sharks at first, I just wanted to get out of the water," said Erin, who is Allison's sister. "I never wanted to go near the sharks, and the worst part is, I was scared to go on the catwalk and people were making fun of me for not wanting to go on it." Allison Rooney was able to hand 2-year-old daughter Amber to a rescuer after they fell in. But she had to swim to the other side of the tank to get out. She said Amber was quiet during the accident, "But on the way home, she started talking. Last night, she woke up quite a few times screaming, "Mommy, hold me!' " Many of those in the tank got out on a makeshift bridge that aquarium workers stretched across to the oil platform. Officials said the guests were in little if any danger. "We didn't have Jaws in the aquarium or anything like that," said Ron Forman, president of the Audubon Institute, which runs the aquarium. Aquarium spokeswoman Melissa Lee said the plastic-and-fiberglass catwalk was supposed to hold up to 5,000 pounds, much more than the total that was on it Wednesday night. Dan Rooney said he pulled three people out before an employee told him to move away from the tank, but no immediate help came for Allison. He called for her to swim over to him and he pulled her out. "If a shark had gone anywhere near I was ready to jump in -- not that it would have helped -- but I wasn't just going to stand there if my family was in trouble," he said The aquarium was opened for business Thursday, but the shark tank was curtained off. At the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, the only platform on top of the shark tank is a 4-foot-by-4-foot plank used by divers and volunteers who perform shark shows and clean the 125,000-gallon tank. Behind-the-scenes tours at the aquarium do not include visits to the shark exhibit. "(Falling in) is really not an option because we don't allow visitors in that area," said spokeswoman Andrea Davis. -- Times staff writer Dong-Phuong Nguyen contributed to this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
