Seven daredevils who stood just 100 metres from imploding twin towers

Supertech illegal twin towers were razed to the ground in a matter of just 12 seconds on Sunday in Noida and seven people including three Indians and four foreigners were the only persons inside a 100-metre radius during the demolition.

Noida (Uttar Pradesh) : Supertech illegal twin towers were razed to the ground in a matter of just 12 seconds on Sunday in Noida and seven people -- three Indians and four foreigners -- were the only persons inside a 100-metre radius during the demolition. As was expected, the demolition left behind a whopping mound of debris and a cloud of dust in close vicinity of the structures located in Sector 93A of Noida.

Chetan Dutta, who pressed the button to demolish Supertech Twin Towers in Noida, said when the team behind the demolition realised it was successful, they hugged each other and cried. "After I pressed the button, there was a loud noise. I looked at the building, obviously there was no building, only a plume of dust. We didn't wait for the dust to settle, we put on our masks and entered the site...We realised the blast was successful, we then hugged each other and cried," he said.

An exclusion zone of roughly 500 metres from the twin towers was created for the demolition. No human, vehicle or animal was allowed in that exclusion zone while around 5,000 residents of nearby Emerald Court and ATS village societies were also evacuated.

Only seven people were present inside the exclusion zone to trigger the button that set off over 3,700 kg of explosives in a series of blasts separated by microseconds. Those present inside the exclusion zone were Indian blaster Chetan Dutta, who pressed the button, Mayur Mehta, the project manager for Edifice Engineering, and IPS officer Rajesh S, who is also the local deputy commissioner of police.

Besides them, four members of Jet Demolitions -- Joe Brinkkman, Marthinus Botha, Kevin Smit and Ian Ehlers -- were present there. The detonation team was stationed about 100 metres close to the 50-acre city park in front of the twin towers. The final evacuation clearance came around 12.30 pm and the demolition took place at 2.30 pm. PTI