- The towers had been sitting unfinished for eight years
- 5.6 tonnes of explosives were placed at 85,000 blasting points
- The basement was submerged in rainwater
After sitting unfinished for eight years, 15 high-rise buildings in Kunming (China) were obliterated simultaneously.
The skyscrapers in the capital of Yunnan province had 5.6 tonnes of explosives placed at 85,000 blasting points. The demolition took place in just 45 seconds, although one building was too stubborn and can be seen with a severe tilt at the end of the video (below).
According to local media, this Leaning Tower will be eventually brought down, but not with explosives.
According to China’s state-run Xinhua News and Kunming Daily, more than 2,000 support personnel were on hand, and the preceding four days had been spent evacuating nearby shops and 2,000 households.
The blast zone covered about 500,000 square metres – the largest single-site demolition in China.
The buildings were part of the unfinished Liyang Star City Phase II project with the property worth about 1 billion Chinese yuan (A$213 million).
Initiated in 2011, the development faced many hurdles and frequent interruptions which resulted in its effective abandonment as the construction company ran out of money in 2013.
Yunnan Honghe Real Estate Co purchased the rights to take over the project last year but chose to demolish the towers due to the string of delays, making it financially unviable.
To make matters worse, the basements were submerged in rainwater, causing irreparable damage.
This is not the first time such a simultaneous demolition has occurred. Back in 2017, 36 buildings were dropped in just 20 seconds in Zhengzhou.
For those who like demolitions, check out the Trump Plaza video in New Jersey which was demolished earlier this year.
