Well, this isn't something you see every day. CCTV has captured the shocking moment when a 33-ton glass shark tank suddenly burst leaving 15 people injured by flying shards of glass and water, The Daily Mail reports.

Situated at the entrance to the Shanghai Orient shopping centre in China's second largest city, the tank shattered without warning on December 19.

Shoppers fled in panic as shards of 15cm thick acrylic glass gave way, flooding the entrance of the shopping centre and knocking down all those in it's path.

A police spokesman told media "There were lots of injuries caused by flying glass, some of them serious because the glass was so thick. We are investigating what caused this."

Of the injured, eight people were customers and the remainder shop assistants and security staff. They mostly suffered deep cuts and bruises from sheets of broken glass.

Three lemon sharks and dozens of turtles and smaller fish, which were housed in the aquarium, were also victims of the accident.

This is not the first incident for the aquarium, which opened just over two years ago. In June this year a ruptured water pipe led to the death of two sharks and the removal of several turtles.

Chen Yongping, an official with the shopping centre management, said they are not planning to 'build an aquarium again in the future'.