Aquarium visitors plunge into shark tank when catwalk falls

NEW ORLEANS — Officials at an aquarium yesterday were investigating the cause of an accident that sent 10 visitors, including four children, plunging into a shark tank, where they thrashed around in terror for up to 15 minutes before they were pulled out.

No one was seriously hurt in the accident Wednesday night at the Aquarium of the Americas.

The exhibit includes about 24 nurse and sand tiger sharks, some of them 10 feet long.

"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, 21, 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."

Amanda Kruse, an 8-year-old onlooker, said most of the sharks scattered, but she saw one cruising underneath the panicked guests.

"Its lips were peeled back, and its teeth were showing," she said.

The catwalk normally is reserved for staff but was opened for a behind-the-scenes tour for aquarium members. When it buckled, the group was thrown into the 20-foot-deep, 400,000-gallon tank along with a 38-foot section of the platform.

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 pull themselves out without help.

"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."

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 — and her rescue took 15 minutes.

"It was very scary," she told CNN. "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 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 when it collapsed.

The aquarium was open for business yesterday, but the shark tank was curtained off.