Dubai Mall aquarium springs a leak

When you’re shopping for a pair of Seven jeans or ankle boots, you don’t expect to be met by a flood of saltwater and the imminent prospect of sharks. But shoppers at the Dubai Mall faced just that Thursday when the center’s massive aquarium sprang a leak.

Amateur video of the incident shows worried shoppers slogging about as water gushes from the tank. News reports in the Persian Gulf city-state referred to it as a minor leak and said it was quickly brought under control by maintenance workers with no harm done to the aquarium’s inhabitants.

The 2.65-million-gallon Dubai Aquarium was designed to hold more than 33,000 creatures of 85 species, according to Dubai’s Khaleej Times. Among the specimens are more than 400 sharks and stingrays.

“A leakage was noticed at one of the panel joints of the Dubai Aquarium at the Dubai Mall and was immediately fixed,” mall officials said in a statement.

Coincidentally, the mishap took place during the Dubai Shopping Festival, an annual celebration of the emirate’s status as a consumer haven.

But someone might want to have a word with the developers of the mall, Emaar Properties. That’s the same company that constructed the record-shattering, half-mile-tall Burj Khalifa skyscraper. The 160-story tower was shut down this month, a month after its opening, when an elevator malfunctioned, trapping 15 passengers for nearly an hour.

Emaar, with strong ties to Dubai’s ruling family, was hit hard by the global financial crisis.

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut