Colombian authorities imploded an upmarket apartment block Tuesday whose partial collapse last year killed 12 people, felling the rest of the six-tower complex in a giant cloud of white dust.
The Space condominium complex in the upscale El Poblado neighborhood of Medellin was designed by respected architect Laureano Forero and completed in 2013, its 154 units selling for prices of between 200 million and 500 million pesos ($105,000 and $265,000).
But weeks after it opened, cracks appeared in some of its concrete beams, leading authorities to evacuate about 40 families living in Tower Six.
The following day, October 12, 2013, the 26-storey tower collapsed as construction workers tried to repair the fissures, killing 11 of them along with a resident.
Prosecutors have charged three executives at construction firm Lerida CDO with culpable homicide, alleging the firm used low-resistance concrete and failed to provide adequate technical supervision or review the structural plans.
The government in Medellin, Colombia's second city, decided to demolish the rest of the complex for safety reasons, rejecting Lerida CDO's bid to reopen four remaining towers.
Workers from demolition company Atila spent three weeks drilling holes into the structures and filling them with explosives.
After police closed off a 100-meter (-yard) radius around the site, a worker pushed a button to trigger the massive six-second implosion.
"We didn't put on a show out of respect for the families in mourning," the manager of Atila Demolitions, Rogelio Gomez, told AFP.
Colombian authorities imploded an upmarket apartment block Tuesday whose partial collapse last year killed 12 people, felling the rest of the six-tower complex in a giant cloud of white dust.
The Space condominium complex in the upscale El Poblado neighborhood of Medellin was designed by respected architect Laureano Forero and completed in 2013, its 154 units selling for prices of between 200 million and 500 million pesos ($105,000 and $265,000).
But weeks after it opened, cracks appeared in some of its concrete beams, leading authorities to evacuate about 40 families living in Tower Six.
The following day, October 12, 2013, the 26-storey tower collapsed as construction workers tried to repair the fissures, killing 11 of them along with a resident.
Prosecutors have charged three executives at construction firm Lerida CDO with culpable homicide, alleging the firm used low-resistance concrete and failed to provide adequate technical supervision or review the structural plans.
The government in Medellin, Colombia’s second city, decided to demolish the rest of the complex for safety reasons, rejecting Lerida CDO’s bid to reopen four remaining towers.
Workers from demolition company Atila spent three weeks drilling holes into the structures and filling them with explosives.
After police closed off a 100-meter (-yard) radius around the site, a worker pushed a button to trigger the massive six-second implosion.
“We didn’t put on a show out of respect for the families in mourning,” the manager of Atila Demolitions, Rogelio Gomez, told AFP.
